Nightmare
by Pengping
Summary: Pre-Tilaria. Sequel to "A Different Kind of Courage." Ever since Loki used the Tesseract he has been having nightmares. Since Chthon cannot reach Loki directly, he conditions the child's mind as it sleeps. By doing so, he makes Loki's magic and mind unstable - which is his plan. This is what happens after Loki touches the Tesseract.
1. The Truth Behind the Myth

Myth

One day Loki saw a chance to do mischief. Sif, the wife of Thor, was lying asleep outside her house. Her beautiful golden hair flowed all round her. Loki knew how much Thor loved that shining hair, and how greatly Sif prized it because of Thor's love. Smiling, he took out his shears and he cut off the shining hair. She did not waken while her treasure was being taken from her.

When Thor returned home he found Sif sobbing, a veil on her head. Then she took the veil off her head and Thor saw that all her beautiful hair was gone. She stood before him, shamed and sorrowful, and he grew into a mighty rage. And Thor went off to the Council House.

Once there, Thor told of the cutting of her beautiful hair. A whisper went round the Council House. "It was Loki did this-no one else in Asgard would have done a deed so shameful," one said to the other.

Then Odin sent out a call that all of Asgard would have to listen to. Loki heard it, and he had to come and enter the Council. When he looked at the rage in Thor's eyes and the sternness in Odin's face, he knew that he would have to make amends for the wrong he had done to Sif.

He was such commanded to return Sif's beauty to her. Loki, unsure how, thought he might get aid from the Dwarves. They were little, twisted creatures, who were both wicked and ugly, but were the best craftsmen.

So he went to where the Dwarfs working in their forges.

Loki said to them, "Have you got a bar of fine gold that you can hammer into threads-into threads so fine that they will be like the hair of Sif, Thor's wife? Only the Dwarfs could make a thing so wonderful."

Flattered by Loki, the Dwarfs there took up a bar of fine gold and flung it into the fire. Then they beat it into threads that were as fine as the hairs of one's head. But that was not enough. They had to be as fine as the hairs on Sif's head, and these were finer than anything else. They worked on the threads, over and over again. The threads were as bright as sunlight, and when Loki took up the mass of worked gold it flowed from his raised hand down on the ground.

However they demanded payment and Loki gave them naught, only flattery and false promises. Their anger raised, they took the color from the hair, making it brown and black. So when Sif got her hair back, it retained that plain color. She did not mind however for hair she had once more.

* * *

Reality

A gentle breeze circled the room, keeping Sif cool as she brushed her long golden hair. Her hair made her the most beautiful of the Æsir and she took care of it. It was as bright as sunlight and thick and silky soft, finer then could be imagined. Its beauty was also the reason why Prince Thor showered her with flattery.

One hundred strokes, and then a hundred more. Satisfied, she set her jeweled brush down next to a pair of scissors she kept to take care of the rare split end.

It had been seven days since Loki had almost drowned and five since Odin's second son had used the Tesseract to drive off Nira. In those five days, Loki's true colors as a trickster had thrived. He had become the life of the palace, his tricks never harmful but always funny – even when he levitated a mug of ale over a Star Guard's head and dumped it. Foolish, childish pranks.

Four days ago – and Sif would admit it to herself only grudgingly – she had gone too far with her insults. Something in Loki's eyes had snapped and the newly fledged mage promised he'd get Sif back for what she said. Sif wasn't worried. If Loki could do anything he would have by now.

She ran her fingers through her hair one last time and stood, admiring the way it glowed in the moonlight. Then she closed the balcony doors and went to bed.

A sleeping potion a certain prince had slipped into her cider took effect, trapping her in a sleep that would last throughout the night. Then her scissors started glowing with the power of a curse and levitated off the table towards her, snipping softly.

* * *

**Leave it to Loki. Can you guess what will happen next?Yes, Loki's story will continue.**


	2. The Lake

Loki was drowning again. The memory of that experience was just as vivid as ever. He was trapped under the ice, not strong enough to break through and reach the air he needed. But something about the nightmare changed.

He broke through the ice. Frantically, he took a breath. The ice held as he half-pulled himself out of the water. Then something grabbed his right leg and pulled. He shrieked in surprise and somehow managed to dig his fingernails into the thin ice. Trembling, he tucked his head against his chest, terrified.

A pair of boots took a step into Loki's line of sight. It was Thor.

"Brother!" Loki held a hand up. "Help me!"

Thor looked at him coldly. "Why? You are just a second son, father has no need of you. The realms and I don't either."

The thing in the lake pulled Loki in a few inches more. "Brother, y-you don't mean that." He stuttered.

Thor didn't say anything.

Suddenly Loki was underwater again, being pulled under the lake. He looked up through the break in the ice where Thor still stood, watching. Even underwater he could still hear Thor say "Goodbye Loki." Then Thor walked away.

Brother… Tendrils of blood wafted up by him, his blood and the water turned red.

His scream echoed in his ears as he snapped awake, the line between reality and dream blurred to him. The raspy sound of his breathing was loud in his ears, as loud as his heartbeat. Sweat ran down his face and somehow he had gotten tangled in the sheets.

His doors slammed open and Loki grabbed the first thing he could reach and threw it at Thor.

"Ow! Hey, what? Loki!" Thor stumbled back from the assault of Loki's boot, banging his head against the door and dropping his sword. He looked up at Loki, about to shout, but his breath caught when he saw the terror on Loki's face.

Slowly, that terror faded. "Brother?" Loki whimpered.

Thor forgot his sword and raced over to Loki. "Are you alright brother? What attacked you?"

"Attacked?" Confusion replaced terror as Thor's idiotic question fully returned Loki to reality.

"You screamed brother," Thor explained. "Loudly. It awoke me. I thought something was attacking you…"

Loki looked past Thor to his older brother's discarded sword lying near his boot. "You-you came running in here for that?"

Slítas flipped himself over, having been kicked off the bed by Loki and landing on his head. He hissed softly, crystals an annoyed pink, but realized that now was not the time to snap at Loki.

"Of course," Thor replied confidently. Now that he was not under attack by Loki's boot he could see that his little brother had just had a nightmare. He wasn't surprised considering what Loki had been through this past week first with almost drowning and then Nira.

Loki started babbling about the lake and Thor and goodbye.

"At ease brother, it's alright, everything's fine." Thor soothed, trying to remember what mother did when he had nightmares.

Loki clung to Thor's nightshift muttering words Thor couldn't hear. Thor stroked Loki's head, making soothing noises.

Loki relaxed by degrees and finally let go of Thor and leaned back. "You wouldn't have let me drown back at the lake if you could have reached me, would you?"

"Let you… Brother where did you get such an idiotic idea?"

Loki almost babbled out his nightmare. The memory of Thor walking away stopped him, but it didn't stop his trembling. Thor pulled him close and held him in a hug – not one of his infamous rib-bruising ones – but a gentle one. "I'll never let anything happen to my little brother," Thor promised. "Even if the silvertongue is learning to take care of himself."

Loki nodded numbly, glad Thor hadn't called him a lie-smith like Sif had. The way Thor put it, he made Loki's ability to lie himself out of trouble a good thing.

Thor stayed there a while longer, until he was sure that Loki was alright, and then left.

Loki waited until he was gone before kicking his sheet back and pulling up the cloth of one of his pants. There, on his right leg, were abrasion marks as if something had grabbed him.

* * *

**A little short but it gets the point across. Remember how Chthon said that he would train Loki through dreams and here it is. He needs a strong General and so this will serve to encourage Loki to get stronger so it will not end with him drowning. **

**Poor Loki, though with Thor brushing him off like that. Thor never would but this does plant the seeds that eventually lead to the _Thor_ movie when Loki turns against Thor.**

**Oh, by the way, if you're wondering, do you think that this is the only nightmare he's going to have?**


	3. Please Be a Nightmare

Sif was snuggled into her sheets, unwilling to wake up, but she finally did. She luxuriously stretched her arms up and shook her head, expecting to have her hair flow about her. All she felt was a cold wind on her head. Blinking away sleep she put her hands on her sheets to sit up. Something felt wrong about the sheets, furry almost. Very slowly she looked down. Tufts and locks and strands of blonde hair covered her bed. They were on her nightgown and her floor and desk and the table in front of the mirror…

Her heartbeat remained slow, the shock not catching up yet. She got out of bed and walked over to her mirror already knowing what she would see. The hair scattered around the room was hers. She was bald.

Unnoticed, her scissors set themselves back onto the table next to Sif's jeweled brush. Tufts of hair were stuck between the blades.

"Wake up." Sif ordered herself. "It is just a nightmare, just a nightmare, please be a nightmare."

It was no nightmare. Sif was wide awake. Loki had warned her 'paybacks are fel.'

"Loki," she seethed. Then she screamed.

"What makes you think I did it?" Loki asked, pulling his best innocent look. He looked around Sif's hair-covered room, chastising himself for making that curse on the scissors so strong. It was tempting to say that Sif should clean her room more often.

"Sif said you promised to get her back for some insult," Odin scolded sharply, instantly believing Loki was responsible.

His scolds didn't hurt Loki as much as they had last week. Odin didn't approve of my magic but I was able to use it to chase off Nira. Just because he doesn't like something doesn't mean is useless, Loki repeated to himself, trying to ignore the sting Odin's words still carried.

"If you didn't do this then what were you planning to do?" Frigga asked gently, flashing a glare at Odin.

In response, Loki held out his right arm, palm down, and whistled three notes. The sleeve of the jacket, which he had put on shortly after getting dragged out of bed, moved. A small black head poked out, emerald cat eyes glittering, and it flicked out a red forked tongue. Three ice-like crystals by its each of its eyes sparkled in the light. Thor stepped back.

"Is that a Whipsnapper Cobra?" Frigga asked.

Loki nodded and scratched the snake with his other hand between its eyes. "I call him Slítas. He's from Jotunnheim but he doesn't want to go back home. I already asked him."

The cobra slid out of Loki's sleeve some more, balancing on his hand so it could look at Thor. It curled its prehensile tail around Loki's wrist and puffed up at Thor, flaring out his hood with a hiss. Thor took another step back.

Now Frigga knew why her younger son was wearing his jacket. Loki never got cold, a testament to his Jötunn blood, but his jacket sleeve was a good place to hide a snake. It seemed he had even trained it to come out when he whistled.

"He's not venomous and doesn't have fangs, the only teeth he has are little," Loki explained. "Sif doesn't like snakes, I was going to see how badly I could scare her, add a little glamour, nothing harmful."

Scare Sif with a snake, Odin thought with a sigh.

"I would have gotten her back earlier but I had to catch something not lethal." Loki shrugged. "I could have used a venomous one I found but I um… would have got in more trouble. I was going to scare her tonight but I had ah…"

"Nightmare." Thor jumped in to save Loki just as Loki knew he would.

The adults, remembering everything Loki had been through of late, stopped questioning him.

"I've only been learning magic for a week," Loki continued, making a show of looking around Sif's room. He whistled two notes and Slítas disappeared up his sleeve again. He walked backwards, letting his hands rest on Sif's table next to the scissors. "This is an advanced curse." A simple charm prevented the reflection in the mirror from giving him away.

For a moment, adults and Thor looked away from him. He drummed his fingers on the table, and, hearing his cue, Slítas slithered out of Loki's sleeve just enough to clamp its strong jaws around Sif's scissors. It pulled the pair Loki had cursed into the sleeve as Loki himself set an identical, non-cursed pair on the table in its place.

What had taken Loki the few days to get his payback hadn't been catching Slítas, he'd already had him; it had been finding a pair of identical scissors so no one would realize he'd switched them. The only evidence of his curse safely in his hands, Loki let himself relax a few degrees and the charm on the mirror faded, the reflection once more accurate.

He stepped back as Frigga walked over and picked up the duplicate scissors. Loki held his breath. "Sif mentioned hearing a snipping sound like scissors in her sleep but there is no curse in these." She set them back down. Clever Loki.

Odin frowned and looked at the boys. "Dismissed."

The brothers quickly left.

Loki slipped a hand up his sleeve, giving the illusion of petting Slítas when in reality he was adjusting the cursed scissors. His careful planning would go to waste if they fell out of his sleeve. He'd throw them over the Edge of Asgard later. Once they were in the Void, no one could blame him.

So he had cut Sif's hair off with her scissors and he had no intention of leaving Slítas alone with her. But hey, it really wasn't a lie if everyone believed it.

* * *

**Here is the Prince of Mischief finally making an entrance, playing Thor even and using current events to enforce his lie. Slitas and Loki make a nice team as well, wouldn't you say? He's got almost everyone fooled and Odin is getting even more fed up with Loki because he is starting to act like a prince.**

**_*Sigh*_ If he had just left Loki on Jotunnheim with his father then none of this or the movies would have happened. It is Odin's own fault that he created his own worst enemy and Thor's nemesis. **


	4. Recoil

Sif was still in the Healer's Ward, so she wasn't there to annoy Loki at breakfast. It was a welcome change.

Loki was in a very good mood. I managed to say all of that before without stuttering. I kept my lie simple and straightforward so it was easy to remember and Thor played along just like I knew he would, jumping in to save me when my voice faltered. That worked amazingly well. I wonder just how good of a lie I can weave.

When they arrived in the dining hall, Thor went right over and sat across from Fandral and Hogun. Fandral greeted him moodily and Hogun bowed his head respectively. Despite their clashing personalities, Hogun and Fandral had become good friends, and these past few days Thor had been eating with them. Loki knew they would be better friends than Jaro and his pack.

Fandral had taken a break from eating and was looking in a pocket mirror, brushing his fingers through his hair as he sulked. He, like Thor, had been wooing Sif, entranced by her golden hair. Now it was gone with her beauty. "What did you do to Sif?" Fandral asked, setting the mirror beside his food to better glare at Loki. He would have to be careful in his verbal attack so he wouldn't get Thor upset.

"Hmm?" Loki asked. "I never got a chance to get even," he whistled his notes as he reached for a strawberry, and Slítas poked its head out again. "She doesn't like snakes." He ate a strawberry in one bite, feeling a bit of juice run down his lip. He licked it from his lips. "Seems some other mage beat me to it when they got rid of her hair, I like theirs better."

"You do know Eir can't make her hair grow back?" Fandral demanded. "You did not need to shame her so."

"It is that strong?" Loki frowned. He knew from the mess of Sif's room that the curse was powerful but _that_ powerful? He had bad feeling that he had made a novice's mistake of trying a curse too advanced for his level, and then let his anger for Sif color the curse and weaken his control. Too late he realized that he didn't know the counter for it. Maybe he could speak to Freyja, the leader of Asgards mages. No, he was better off trying to figure out how to undo it himself.

Wait a minute, undo it? Why would he do that?

With Thor and Fandral sulking, and Loki busy thinking about his magic, the meal was eaten quietly. Hogun, as ever, didn't say anything.

Everyone was almost done with their breakfast and Loki was eating the last of the strawberries. He loved strawberries. There was one more on his plate and he had just plucked it up when Thor accidently knocked over his mug. "Thor," Loki muttered, annoyed. A wave of his empty hand fixed the mess.

He went to take a bite out of the strawberry and it wasn't in his hand anymore. "What?"

He turned his hand over and looked down to his chair and the floor to see if he had dropped it by accident. "Where did my strawberry go? That was the last one!"

Fandral snickered, but held his hands in surrender when Loki glared at him.

"Your sleeve is moving brother," Thor warned.

Loki looked at the sleeve and gave an exasperated sigh. He shook his arm. A strawberry fell out. Midway to the table his cobra's head snapped out of the jacket and plucked its treat in midair, retreating back up Loki's sleeve with its prize.

"Get out you rascal," Loki ordered.

Hogun and Fandral stopped eating and watched. Is there a snake in his sleeve? Fandral thought warily.

Loki shook his arm again but neither strawberry nor snake fell out. Exasperated, Loki shrugged off his jacket. The cobra was curled loosely around his arm, one wrap holding the strawberry in place. "That's the last strawberry, now give," Loki ordered, shaking his arm.

This time both snake and strawberry fell to the table. The cobra curled around the strawberry, head low to the table, holding its tail as if it were going to strike with that. Loki reached forward carefully, but was still not fast enough to avoid the snake as its tail cracked him on the back of his hand.

"Ow," Loki whined. There was a red mark on the back of his hand shaped like the cobra's tail. "Now I know why you're called a _Whip_snapper," he retorted at the snake.

The snake flicked out its tongue at Loki, crystals flashing light blue in amusement. Thor started laughing.

"All right, if you're so good _you_ get my strawberry back," Loki dared his brother.

"Fine," Thor never backed away from a dare. He held out a hand to Slítas, leaning forward. "Give me that strawberry little serpent," Thor cooed.

The snake puffed its hood warningly and when that failed to deter Thor, cracked his hand to. Thor yelped and jerked his hand back, looking at the red stripe in surprise.

Loki rolled his eyes. "I already tried that."

Thor growled something and moved his untouched oatmeal to one side to pick up his spoon. He carefully moved the spoon handle closer to the cobra. Slítas hissed warningly, crystals turning pink, tail moving a bit like a rattlesnakes and Thor hesitated. Then he moved it forward again. Irritated, Slítas snapped out his tail, grabbing the spoon and tearing it from Thor's grip, wrapping the tail around it.

So the tail is prehensile, Loki thought, impressed.

The cobra transferred the spoon to its mouth and gnawed on it. After a moment, its jaws snapped shut and the spoon snapped, the two halves clattering to the table. He brushed the pieces way with his tail and tore off another piece of the strawberry.

The Godlings gawked.

Loki knew it had impressive jaw strength proportionate to its size but he did not know it had that much. It was barely two feet long and it had just snapped a spoon. Those things hurt when you got whacked by one, and they were not easy to break.

"I think I'll let him have it," Thor wisely submitted, leaning back in his char.

When the cobra finished off the strawberry, it neatly picked up the stem with its tail and set it on Loki's plate. Then it slithered over to the table's edge in front of Loki. It held itself up, bobbing his head, uncertain when Loki kept his distance. Loki glared at it before holding out his right hand.

The cobra quickly wrapped itself around Loki's arm until it got to his neck. Then it nuzzled him gently and settled his head down with a click. Sighing, Loki scratched it between its eyes, its crystals flashing a dark, relaxed, blue. Loki put his jacket back on and the snake disappeared from sight. He really spoiled that serpent.

* * *

Loki winced as he later walked to the Healer's Ward. He had just tried to do a spell, under his mother's watchful eye, to teleport. It was something he'd had his eye on for a while now. Amazingly, he'd managed to teleport, but his magic hadn't liked it much. With his lessons over with his mother, he decided to head down to the healers and see if they had something to help his magic. Slítas had been left snoozing on his mother's windowsill in the sun.

Really, it was an excuse. His magic would be fine, but he had another reason why he wanted to go there. He wanted to see the alycote named Sigyn was back yet. She had been on Alfheim for the past month, permitted to go there for a time and study at an elfin college. It was a rare chance and if Fey wasn't her aunt she likely wouldn't have been able to go.

She was due back any day now and the only place Loki knew to find her was the ward. I'm a mage now, so maybe she can teach me some healing spells. If she doesn't pass out when she sees me, that is. He still didn't understand why she seemed to get so fluttery whenever she saw him.

There was no sign of Sigyn when he walked in the ward, and for some reason he felt sad. He didn't understand it, she'd be back soon.

Fey glanced up from the patient she was helping. They looked like they had a broken arm. Breaks healed quickly but the bone could heal misaligned if you wouldn't careful, so most wanted a healer to do so. There was a soothing mist of magic surrounding the patients arm as she worked. The patient was a boy about Loki's age with dark red hair. He wasn't looking in Loki's direction though.

"Back again?" Fey asked him.

"M-my magic burned me when I did a teleport," Loki offered. He glared at himself for stuttering.

Loki must truly miss Sigyn if he's using an excuse like that to come in here and see if she's present. "Go into the storage. I sent an alycote in there a moment ago; they can help you find it."

Loki nodded and followed her directions, ducking into the storage room of herbs and potions.

"All right Angborn," Fey said as she let go of the boy's hand. "It's fixed; do try not to break it again."

"Yes, ma'am," Angborn told her, his mannerisms perfected by his father Eirill. He hopped off the bed and left.

Loki meanwhile, paused in the doorway to let his eyes adjust to the dimmer lighting. He saw a small girl taking some leaves out of a jar. For some reason, he felt himself smiling when he recognized her. Why am I so happy to see her? "Hello, Sigyn," he greeted the girl anyway.

The young alycote glanced at him, saw it was Loki, and let out a little eep and jumped back. Her work was knocked to the ground but Loki snapped out a hand and caught it in midair magically. His magic felt the strain as he levitated it back up to the counter.

"L-Loki!" Sigyn stuttered. Her long gold corn gold hair cascaded in front of her face as if she were hiding behind it. "I didn't hear you," she said quietly, not daring to meet his eyes.

Loki shrugged, "I'm quiet."

Sigyn nodded in agreement and tried to slow her racing heartbeat or at least stop blushing.

"When did you get back?" Loki asked.

Sigyn found herself trapped in his beautiful emerald eyes and the silken tone of his voice, and so almost missed the question. "M-Me? Um, yesterday night." She looked down to the floor. Loki was as entrancing as ever. "It was fascinating. I saw the elves prince and his foster sister."

She was blushing fiercely and didn't have the faintest idea what to say. I don't want to embarrass myself in front of him. "I heard about what you did with Nira. That was really brave fighting her. And you used an Infinity Gem to do it. Normally, only gods can use them."

Loki glanced away pointedly. "It burned my hands nicely enough, a little reminder that I am mortal." He didn't need praise.

Sigyn liked that. There was a difference to him now that she couldn't quite identify. Part of it is because he's using magic now but the rest of it is something else. He's confident, she realized. "Um, I uh, what can I help you with. Are you injured?"

"My magic got singed a bit when I did a teleport, do you have a potion?" Loki asked. He didn't understand why Sigyn always stuttered around him. For another odd reason, Loki never felt nervous around her.

"Magic?" Sigyn blinked. "You're using magic? I mean, I heard about it but, you're already trying teleporting. That's advanced."

"I can do it," Loki replied defensively. "I did do it; I just didn't do it perfectly."

"I didn't say you couldn't," Sigyn waved a hand. "It's just surprising. Let me get the potion." She held up a hand and a small bottle levitated off the upper shelf to rest in her hands. Quickly, she set it on the worktable and took out a clean glass shot glass – they worked remarkable well to give someone a dose.

She filled it a third full. "Here, this should soothe your magic. You might want to wait until you have something sweet to wash it down with before you drink." Sigyn held out the glass to Loki without looking at him.

"Another potion that tastes like stale swampwater?" Loki asked tiredly.

Sigyn felt a small smile, "yes."

"You should make a potion that's actually edible," Loki told her.

"Most things that taste sweet don't have medicinal properties," Sigyn warned him.

"Then add an extra ingredient in," Loki shrugged. "You're going to be chief healer here one day, I bet you could Sig."

Sigyn stopped before she could respond. "C-Chief? Me!" Did he just call me Sig instead of Sigyn?

"Yeah," Loki repeated, "who else? Eir was chief healer until he passed it on to his daughter Fey and you're her niece."

Sigyn thought about that.

"Is there a spell I could use instead of the swampwater?" Loki asked after giving her a few seconds to muse. He held up the shotglass.

"Yes, but it's not severe enough to need it," Sigyn promised him. The spell also required physical contact which she didn't think she could do without making a fool of herself.

"That's alright," Loki told her. "Hey, now that I'm an active mage, could you show me some healing spells?"

"I'm still learning them myself!" Sigyn exclaimed.

"The best way to learn is to sometimes teach another," Loki offered, "you'd perfect your skills showing me how to do it."

"M-M may, maybe later," Sigyn told him. She was getting more and more flushed.

"All right, bye Sig and thanks." Loki bowed and walked back out.

The instant Loki was out of sight Sigyn gave into her wooziness and collapsed into a heap. She leaned back and banged her head on the wood counter.

Loki brushed by Eir on his way out of the ward, a smile on his face that he couldn't explain. Eir's face was dark and he overheard Eir address mention Sif's name. He didn't stop walking until he was out of the ward and then ducked to one side so he could listen.

"Nothing is working," Eir told Fey. "The curse is simply too powerful. The user's emotions took over control of it."

"Do you believe that Sif says it was Loki?" Fey asked, "She's been telling it to everyone."

"Loki is a very young mage," Eir contradicted, "under normal circumstances, no. Loki however, is no longer normal. We still do not what effect the Tesseract's magic had on him."

"There have been no physical changes though," Fey told him.

"Magic is different," Eir promised. "There is some evidence that his magic is not the same now."

"He never truly used his magic before the Tesseract," Fey argued. "We have nothing to base his current powers on. No control, no standard, and no way to make an assumption because we don't know what his magic was like before. The blood samples have nothing to say that there has been any change."

"I don't believe he is stable anymore," Eir snapped.

Loki tensed. Fey was quiet. Not… stable?

Loki held his hands in front of him, palms up, fingers curled slightly. What does Eir mean? I feel fine. My memories of my fight with Nira are a little fuzzy, but that's all. I don't know what Eir's talking about. There's nothing wrong with me. Nothing! I'm just fine!

Fey jumped as one of the glass vials near her shattered.

Loki peered around the corner at the dust and shards. He swallowed as he felt his magic drop in response to the spell. Did I just break that? No, it wasn't me. That couldn't have just been me.

Troubled, Loki quickly hurried down the hallway. He wasn't seen by the duo.

"Fey," Sigyn called out, "what was that?"

"Nothing," Fey told her.

Eir went off in another direction and Sigyn came out of the supply closet with a bundle of herbs. "Is everything alright?"

"Fine, just an accident," Fey told her. She fixed the glass with a wave of her hand.

Sigyn didn't answer. She was too busy looking ahead as she set her supplies on the counter to make up a potion and fill up a nearly empty one.

Fey smiled, "Loki?" She saw Sigyn's color return. "If you like Loki that badly then maybe you should say something about it."

Horror filled Sigyn's eyes at the thought of actually confronting Loki and the fool that she would make of herself. "I'm fine," she promised Fey quickly and went back to her potion.

Fey, grateful for a distraction, let it rest with a small smile.

* * *

**First half fluff, second half shadows. I was writing this and i'm thinking two things: one, Loki handled and Infinity Stone, and _nothing_ happened to him? Two: Loki's self-depression, its kind of like a drug addict trying not to get addicted - they're bound ot relapse a bit. **

**I did change the story summery, so Sif is only one of the children that finds herself at Loki's not so merciful mercy. Again this story focuses on the development, Thor's friendship with the warriors three, Loki himself. This story is not perfect. I write kill scenes, os keep that in mind as you read on and watch what Loki does next. **


	5. Lessons

Thor finished off his mug of cider and pushed his chair back to stand. Everyone else had finished eating by now as well. "Come," Thor told them, "it's not snowing outside."

With him were Loki, Hogun, and Fandral. Fandral and Hogun followed him happily, snow sounded like a fine idea. Loki followed out of habit. His thoughts were still troubled by what he had done in the Healer's Ward. Eir said I was unstable. I shattered that glass.

Another thought occurred to him. What did Fey mean by blood samples? I don't remember Fey taking any blood samples. Did she do it when I was unconscious?

Slítas clicked at him in his sleeve, sensing Loki's troubled thoughts. Loki didn't respond.

They were stopped in sight of their goal to the outside by the queen. Fandral and Hogun bowed as was respectful to her, but Thor only said, "Hello mother."

"Hello my dears," she greeted both her sons. "Where are you off to?"

"Outside," Thor told her. "We'll figure out what to do once we get there."

"No you won't," Frigga promised them. "Do you know what day it is?"

Thor's eyes clouded in confusion, and Loki frowned as Frigga's words tugged him from his thoughts. What was mother talking about? Today's just Thursday.

"You children have lessons today," Frigga told them.

"Oh mother!" Thor whined instantly.

"Uh huh, don't start," Frigga scolded. "All four of are to report to your lessons."

Loki supposed he should have seen that coming. Lessons for the godlings were limited. They had such a long lifespan that they didn't need to attend school nine months out of the year to learn everything. During the spring, summer, and fall, they were free to be children but once winter came, so did the lessons. Because of everything that had lately happened with Nira and the Tesseract, lessons had been postponed. It seemed their holiday was over.

"I don't see why, we're not stuck inside today from a blizzard. It's not even snowing out," Thor whined again.

"Go," Frigga repeated. "Hárekr is expecting you for lessons."

Thor started to complain again, but stopped at his mother's look. "Yes mother," he sulked.

Frigga made sure that they made their way to the classroom. Once there, the godlings filed inside and took their usual seats. There were already a few others sitting moodily, as happy as Thor that their holiday was over. Among those children were Jaro and his friends. All of them were still wearing their jackets as if they too, had been interrupted in their attempt to go outside.

A few more children were escorted into the room before Hárekr signaled for quiet. Hárekr was the tutor for the noble and royal children, and he now stood to begin lessons. On the wall behind him was a board that looked like it was made of black metal. Written on it in clear large white runes was a paragraph.

Well, Loki thought, at least it's school work with Hárekr and not lessons of courtesy with Yenova. She was far more annoying than Hárekr.

"Welcome back," Hárekr greeted them. "Events of late have been rather unusual, but we will be returning to your normal schedule of lessons. You _will_ return here next Tuesday and every Tuesday and Thursday."

That elicited a few groans.

Hárekr waited for them to die down before continuing. "I am curious to see how your handwriting has dissolved over these few weeks. Copy down the paragraph behind me. I expect neatness."

There were a few more grumbles as paper was set out for them. Most of the children there took off their jackets and draped them on the back of their chair, relenting to the inevitability of lessons. It was already warm in the room from all of the children, and set to get even hotter. Loki meant to take off his jacket when Slítas clicked at him.

Loki froze. I've still got Slítas! Hárekr hates snakes! Slowly, Loki set his arm back on the desk and looked at the board. Now what am I going to do?

He memorized the words within a few seconds, using a mages eidetic memory to his advantage, and then looked down at the paper. I guess I just have to pretend I _don't_ have Slítas. With little choice he picked up the quill with his right hand.

Loki's handwriting was terrible. It felt awkward to hold the utensil in his right hand. He would rather write with his left hand, but most of the adults wanted their children to write right-handed. Hárekr had never snapped at a child for using their left hand because no one ever did. Everyone knew better.

Another problem arose after Loki wrote a few runes. Slítas had taken to being in Loki's right sleeve and was there now. As he moved his arm to write it jolted Slítas. This is getting annoying, Loki thought. Trying to move his arm as little as possible, he wrote the paragraph and put the four runes of his name up on the top left of the sheet. Not being able to move his arm made it look even messier than normal.

Because Loki didn't have to keep looking up at the board and then down at the paper he had finished writing first. He rested his head in his left hand as he looked at the scratches that you might be able to call handwriting – from a distance on a darker night.

Hárekr was used to the advantage of Loki's memory and so ignored him as he sat at his desk, waiting for everyone else to finish.

Something black moved and Loki glanced to the right and tensed. Slítas must have gotten curious as to what Loki was doing and had poked out of his sleeve to look down at his paper. He didn't seem to understand what the messy runes meant. Curious, he slid out of Loki's sleeve a little more and rotated his head so he was looking at the runes upside down.

Thor stopped writing and slowly glanced Loki's way. Loki shrugged helplessly and tried to nudge Slítas to get back in his jacket before Hárekr saw him. Slítas was ignoring him – again. The sounds of the other children writing were growing quieter, they were almost done. Hárekr would look up in a moment to collect their papers.

Finally, Slítas returned to his hiding place. No sooner did his head vanish then did Hárekr look up. Loki's sleeve was still moving as the tutor began to walk around and pick up the papers.

Thor's handwriting, though large, was neat. Loki's was small, cramped, and messy. Hárekr blissfully didn't say a word about it as he took Loki's paper. The tutor sat at his desk and shuffled through them. Everyone's handwriting was a little worse than usual but not very bad at all, though Loki's was far worse. Is the Tesseract's magic still interfering with him?

"Well," Hárekr said as he set the papers down, "most of you seem to be the same. If that's the case then I can skip making you copy more paragraphs." He tapped the gold crystal on his desk, and the letters on the board vanished.

"So I will get straight to our planned lesson." Another tap of the crystal and a 3-dimensional model materialized in front of his desk. The lights dimmed accordingly. It was a giant beech tree with nine branches. Nine orbs hung on it like apples, one from each branch, each in their own color.

"Do I need to ask if anyone knows what this is?" Hárekr queried as he stood and walked to stand next to the giant tree. "I hope not, this is Yggdrasil. It is the force that connects the nine realms. Despite being scattered among our star cluster, it unites all nine of the worlds in a way unique throughout the rest of the known galaxy."

Loki couldn't resist asking something and raised a hand.

"Yes Loki?" Hárekr asked in a somewhat wary voice, aware of just how curious Loki was and how many .

He lowered his hand, and realized too late that he had lifted his right hand and Slítas had almost fallen out of his sleeve in surprise. Oops. "Is that really what Yggdrasil looks like? The model of it in the library is different."

"Only Heimdall has the sight to see Yggdrasil," Hárekr admitted, "only he truly knows what it looks like. This is simply an artist's representation. It may be perfectly accurate or it might be drastically wrong. I have not asked Heimdall lately what it looks like."

That made sense to Loki. He would have kept querying the teacher but he needed Hárekr looking away from him so he could calm Slítas down.

Another child raised his hand, "I don't think that's what it looks like. It looks too fragile."

"Well what do you expect it is?" Jaro snapped, "An oak tree?"

"Watch it Jaro," the boy snapped.

"Or what, Baldur?" Jaro challenged.

Hárekr cleared his throat and the two boys settled down. "That's a valid question Jaro," Hárekr snapped. He may be wary of Loki's questions but he also disliked Jaro's taunts. "Yggdrasil could look like any of the known species of trees or none at all."

"Well why can't someone go and look?" Jaro challenged. "Just take an airship."

"Yggdrasil is not a part of the visible plane," Hárekr replied levelly. "And once an airship leaves Asgard's atmosphere its engines won't function and there will be no oxygen for its pilots to breathe."

"So no one but Heimdall has seen it?" A third student asked.

Loki glanced back to see who the speaker was and saw a rather plump Godling with fire red hair. He had seen that boy from somewhere, but where? Oh well, it would come to him eventually.

"Some mages have claimed to catch a glimpse of the great tree in their more advanced spells," Hárekr waved a hand. "There is no way to prove their accounts and no way to deny them. Most catch only a shimmer of leaves. None have managed to see the entire tree, not even Heimdall. If you could though, you would see that the entire sky is comprised of leaves and branches. Asgard is in a unique position to see Yggdrasil, can anyone tell me why?"

Loki couldn't resist answering, "Asgard's a plane. You can stand on the edge and look down."

"Correct," Hárekr nodded. "You could, as said, stand on the edge and look down. It is possible to see not just the tree in the sky, but also the parts of the tree underneath Asgard."

"I still think you could just use an airship," Jaro called out. "There's one right now by the docks that I have access to." His tone softened into a more manipulative one and Thor turned back. Jaro did?

Thor remembered Jaro's scorn that Thor was loyal to Loki and that Thor did think about the consequences of killing. He still remembered seeing that cadet's body all too vividly at night. With that in mind, Thor turned back around to face the teacher.

Jaro frowned to himself. Rats, he was almost sure that would spark Thor's interest. He had made a calculated error taunting Thor before and wanted to get back in the good graces of Asgard's future king. I'll get it eventually.

Loki glanced back at Jaro, and the two boys glared at each other until Hárekr began speaking again. "Airships aside, Volstagg has pointed out your homework due Tuesday."

More groans echoed around. Now Loki remembered where he had seen the boy. That was the one Sif stormed by on her way out of the medical bay after my brush with the Tesseract.

"I expect a two page sheet on what you think Yggdrasil looks like and why. The branches the leaves, the placement of the galaxies, leave it up to your imagination," Hárekr paused and held up a hand. "I do want you to include facts and even stories you've been told about Yggdrasil, but make it realistic. Loki," he asked when Loki raised his hand again.

Loki accidentally raised his right hand again. Slítas finally got fed up and bit him. It wasn't enough to break the skin, but enough to remind Loki he was there. Great, now Slítas is going to think I'm doing this on purpose. That's still no reason to bite me.

When Loki lowered his hand he thumped the arm on the table, banging Slítas around. Slítas hissed quietly in irritation at Loki's payback. "Can a mage see Yggdrasil?"

Hárekr smiled slightly in understanding. Loki probably wanted to see it himself. "Some mages have said that they have caught glimpses of it when they are in a very deep spell. They haven't been able to give an accurate account of what they and no way to prove that they _did_ see it, but there are similarities in what they do say. No mage has managed to do it on purpose."

But normal mages have done it, Loki nodded at him.

Thor, sitting on Loki's left now, poked his brother. "You should have looked up when you were using the Tesseract. I bet that would have been enough energy."

Loki put a hand to his forehead when he realized that Thor was probably right. He used his right hand – again – and earned _another_ hiss for it.

"Have no fear," Hárekr promised the young prince. "If you become a powerful enough mage and work a strong enough spell I see no reason why you could not see it." You were able to tame the Tesseract, something no one has ever done before, and at such a young age. There is no doubt in my mind of that.

* * *

**Yes, Thor and Loki have lessons. How else do you expect them to learn how to be kings? Jaro's back, and he's going to keep coming back. Thor doesn't even know Volstagg at this point in time, so you can see how the group was first formed. For those of you who noticed Baldur, nice reading. In Norse mythology Baldur and Thor are brothers. He's going to be a character as well. **


	6. A Rat

Thor was practically skipping after they were released from class for the day. The instant they were out of the classroom Loki took off his jacket and held it in his left hand. Slítas shook himself, uncoiled, and pulled his head back as if he were going to strike at Loki.

"Don't snap at me," Loki scolded him. "I didn't know we were going to have classes today. From now on every Tuesday and Thursday, we'll be in class with Hárekr. Most Wednesdays we'll be with Yenova learning courtesy so I guess you'll going to have to get along without me."

"Yenova?" Thor stopped hopping around and fixed Loki with a sharp look.

"If we have lessons with Hárekr again then we'll probably have them with her again," Loki rationed. "Of course, since I'm a mage now, some of my time with Yenova will be diverted to magic."

Thor glared at the smugness in Loki's voice, "lucky," he muttered. "You'll still have lessons with me on Friday."

Loki nodded agreement. The princes had extra lessons on Fridays that no one else had to help groom them for the throne. "At least we get Saturday and Sundays off, and I don't have to deal with Yenova as much."

Thor shoved Loki playfully at his brother's pleased smile. "Fandral, Hogun," Thor greeted the two as they came out into the hallway. "You want to come down to the docks with us?"

"Us?" Loki leaned back, "what us? I heard no mention of docks before this."

"If Jaro really can get an airship then I bet we can to," Thor reasoned with his own logic. "We're the princes, and _you're_ a silver tongue."

Loki eyed him, but Thor didn't seem to mean it poorly. He wanted to coast above the waves as much as his brother, so didn't disagree.

"So, do you want to?" Thor repeated.

"That sounds fine," Fandral replied cheerfully.

Hogun nodded agreement of his own.

Slítas stopped glaring at Loki, turned his head towards the doorway, and puffed up his hood slightly. Loki frowned and threw out his magic, but sensed little more than four children. One of them was Jaro. Ignoring the conversation occurring between Thor and Fandral, Loki watched the doorway.

A moment later the red-haired boy came out of the room with Jaro and two of his friends on his heels. Loki sharpened his hearing so he could hear what they were saying.

"Real nice work there piggy," Jaro sneered at the red head. "You got us assigned homework. I don't like homework."

The red head stepped back at the venomous tone, "I-I."

He didn't do anything though, Loki knew. Hárekr only said he listed off the assignment. We were going to get that essay no matter what, and this essay is more like a story then an essay. There's no reason to complain.

"Loki," Thor asked him.

Loki turned away from Jaro and that red-haired boy, letting his hearing return to normal. "What?"

"Do you know how to fly one?" Thor repeated.

"An airship?" Loki frowned, "what, do you expect to steal one?"

"NO," Thor replied quickly-too quickly.

"Yes," Loki corrected. "That _will_ get us into trouble." He noticed Slítas drop from his arm to the floor, but didn't say anything.

"We get into trouble anyway," Thor whined.

"No," Loki corrected, "you get into trouble and I drown."

Thor hesitated at the sudden strike of venom in Loki's voice. His eyes darkened, hurt by the tone.

"I didn't mean it," Loki promised. "I just remember."

Thor didn't respond. If Loki let me teach him how to swim then maybe he wouldn't be so bothered by that memory. There was scarce enough chance of that now, but Thor resolved to try.

Slítas crept up on Jaro and his friends as they kept taunting the other boy. He wasn't noticed, an odd thing since he had black scales on white tile. When he got close enough to Jaro, he coiled back and launched into the air.

Jaro screamed when Slítas sank his fangs into his neck. Slítas's tail was coiled around Jaro's right arm to pin himself in place. Volstagg jumped back in shock, a movement echoed by Jaro's friends. Loki flinched in surprise and spun around. Thor, Fandral, and Hogun looked over and their conversation froze.

Ignoring the stares, Jaro reached behind himself with his free hand, fumbling as he drew his dagger. Slítas couldn't see the blade, but Loki did. He dropped his jacket and felt his magic rise. "No!" He shouted, flashing out a hand in front of him. A telekinetic force slammed into Jaro's hand and threw the dagger down the hall.

Jaro's hand went numb and then flared with pain. He grabbed Slítas's neck and tried to strangle him. Biologically speaking, it's not possible to strangle a snake. Jaro didn't seem aware of that fact.

Loki's magic was still bright as he saw a chance to stop Jaro and tugged the blade back down the hallway. When Jaro stepped back the heel of his boot came down right on the blade and his foot shot out from under him. He crashed to the floor, the breath knocked out of him. The wayward blade was kicked forward and Loki raised the toes of his boot and brought them down perfectly on the blade.

Slítas unlatched his jaws from Jaro's throat and raised them above his head when Jaro tried to squirm. Jaro froze when he saw the serpent above him, staring at him with piercing emerald eyes. The snake's mouth was open and Jaro's blood colored his white teeth red. A drop of it fell onto Jaro's cheek.

Slowly, Slítas opened his hood. Then he surprised everyone, including Loki. A pair of fangs as long as his head unfolded from the roof of his mouth and extended down, wickedly curved. He hissed, a low, threatening sound. The crystals that grew by his eyes were a brilliant crimson red.

Then Slítas released his hold on Jaro's uninjured arm and slithered to one side of him. Jaro sat up, utterly terrified, and Slítas raised himself on the tail so he could look him in the eye.

"Slítas," Loki said in a scolding voice.

Slítas slithered back to Loki, leaving the boy on the floor, and jumped up to Loki's arms. Loki was surprised by the move, but hid it well. His cobra would have to be able to jump high to strike Jaro in the neck.

Jaro stood slowly, terror in his blue eyes.

"Sorry Jaro," Loki tossed in a careless voice, "Slítas must have mistaken you for a rat."

The terror in Jaro's eyes was replaced by anger.

Loki removed his foot from Jaro's blade and held the hand without a cobra over it. His magic did as he bid for once, and the blade levitated off the ground to hover just above his hand.

Jaro reigned in his reply. He stepped back as Loki extended the hand towards Jaro and the blade shot through the air to hover just in front of Jaro's nose. For an instant, Jaro stood there, and then he grabbed the blade out of the air with his right hand. "Monster," Jaro breathed.

Loki felt Thor stand up beside him, and so Jaro stopped the subject. He hated bullies. The only reason why Jaro was picking on that red head was because he knew Loki was studying magic, and might not be so easy of a target anymore.

Jaro whirled around and shoved past the red head. He felt a throbbing pain from his hand that Loki had attacked and cradled it to his chest. His friends fell in step behind him a moment later.

Once they were gone, Slítas retracted his fangs and hood. Loki could feel Thor's eyes on him, but ignored him and bent down manually to pick up his jacket. Slítas returned to his normal position and Loki was able to put the jacket on.

The red head looked over at Loki. "That's a scary snake," he said.

Loki shrugged nonchalantly. He was pleased that Slítas had stopped Jaro and put him in his place. Let's see how eager he is to bully anyone now.

"I know I've seen you before," Thor told the red head. "What's your name?"

Vornstagg, Loki told himself – or something like that.

"Volstagg," the red head told Thor.

I was close, Loki thought.

"Do you want to come to the docks with us?" Thor asked him. "We're going to see if we can get an airship."

Volstagg was a little off guard by Thor's personality. "Certainly," Volstagg told him, "After lunch."

That sounded like a good idea to Thor. "Come on, we can get lunch at the market."

Volstagg thought about it for a moment, and then followed Thor back over.

"Hi," Fandral greeted him, "I'm Fandral. The silent swordsman on my left is Hogun."

Hogun turned his head at Fandral, "I told you to stop calling me that."

"A sentence," Fandral put on a shocked look.

Hogun narrowed his eyes slightly. He'd get Fandral back for that.

"Volstagg," Volstagg greeted the other two.

"Come on," Thor repeated.

The three boys walked after their prince. A few paces behind them, Loki followed. His eyes glittered Tesseract blue briefly.

* * *

**I'm sorry it's been awhile since i've updated but i'm getting ready to go to college and i have a lot of forms to fill out. College comes first over stories i'm afraid, but i will keep posting as i can.**

**As for the story, this is the beginning of the Warriors Three. Remember that injury Jaro suffered, it's going to be mentioned again and i'm going to add a new character soon. You should know her, she's in the Norse myths with Loki. i won't spoil. **


	7. Deep Water

The five children stopped by the market place before they headed to the docks and raided some food stands. All of the food was steaming hot to stave off the cold and Thor happily helped the other three children pay for food. Although Hogun lived in the palace as a guest and a fellow noble, it turned out that Fandral and Volstagg lived outside of the palace grounds and so their supply of coins was more limited.

Loki had less to eat then the others. When he got his food and took a bite of mutton, the heat burned his mouth. It was too hot for him to tell the taste, but he forced himself to swallow it anyway.

He offered the mutton leg to the collar of his jacket, but Slítas poked his tongue out at it and then vanished back inside. I guess he doesn't like it being hot either. The rest of the group was happily eating the hot meat and Loki wished he could to; it just burned him.

Where Volstagg managed to eat two in the time it took everyone else to eat one, Loki had only eaten half of his. It hard to eat fast when he first had to wait for it to cool. With a sigh, he abandoned the rest of his food and followed after the group.

Instead of heading straight through the crowd of the market place doing their early shopping for Yuletide, Loki offered the option of cutting through the woods. It was accepted. After a bit of walking, they found the Ífingr and followed it along as it headed through the woods to the harbor in their quest for an airship. They soon got thirsty and stopped for a drink.

Thor carefully dipped his hands into the water, filling them with the liquid. Then he lifted his hands and took a drink. The water was nice and cool. Beside him, the other Godlings stopped for a drink as well, Slítas coming out of Loki's sleeve to sip from the river. As he did that, he dunked his head in the water and rubbed it on the rest of his body, cleaning the remains of Jaro's blood from him.

Their drink done, the group continued to parallel the river until they came to the harbor. This close to shore it was safe to be out on the water and there was no chance of being swept over the Edge. The children watched the boats coming and going with their catch of fish.

"No sign or Jaro, or an airship," Loki murmured as they walked onto the rocky cliffs. He wasn't surprised. To his right, the river continued to wind around the rocks and eventually went over the edge to form a waterfall. Being near the water reminded him of both his nightmare and the actual experience of drowning, try as he might to forget the similarities.

"Rats," Thor growled. He went down closer to the water's edge, standing on High Dive. The pool beneath was deep and there was no undertow in this little secluded cove below, making it the perfect place to dive into the water. Well, dive into the water on a day where you couldn't see your breath.

"Hey Thor," Loki smiled, "want to go swimming?"

Thor didn't look back at Loki. "No. It's too cold."

"Ah," Loki hummed. "The big bad warrior too scared of a little cold?"

"I am not!" Thor snapped.

"Good," Loki smiled.

Thor frowned, worried, and stepped just a little too far back. He yelped as his foot slipped and he disappeared from sight. A second later, they heard a tremendous splash.

Loki went over to the edge with the other boys and looked over it. Thor had come up. "Not fair brother! Not fair!"

Loki smiled. "I didn't do anything; you just stepped back a little too far."

Thor treaded water, too far down to splash Loki or drag him in. He took a breath and dived under the surface. The sky was cloudy out, and so Loki couldn't see Thor or the bottom of the pool. Loki hesitated slightly, his nightmare flashing before his eyes. Then Thor broke the surface with a laugh, shaking his head. Relax, Loki told himself. That was a nightmare, this is real life.

Thor waved. "Come on in, the water's fine once you're wet!"

Fandral pulled his jacket closer, "you are so out of luck my prince."

Hogun stepped up behind him and suddenly pushed him.

Fandral yelped as he tumbled into the water, landing on his back. He came up sputtering, "Loki!"

Loki shook his head, "not me."

"Hogun! You? Come in here!" Fandral called.

Hogun shook his head. He knew he'd get Fandral back for that ridiculous nickname at some point.

"That is sooo not fair, bilgesnipe! Get down here!" Fandral splashed the water.

"Hey," Thor whined as Fandral splashed him. Thor splashed him back. A small splash war ensued between the two and ended when Thor dunked Fandral. "Brother come on in!" Thor laughed again once he vanquished Fandral.

"Hardly, "Loki shook his head. " I have a cold blooded animal in my jacket."

"One native to Jötunnheim," Thor shouted back.

"All the water on Jötunnheim is frozen; I doubt he knows how to swim, like me." Loki sat on the edge of the stone, legs dangling over the edge.

"Well, come down here and let me teach you."

Loki thought about it, but the nightmare flashed by again and he thought he saw something in the water with Thor. He didn't of course, but it scared him enough that he pulled his feet back over the edge. "Maybe when I'm not babysitting Slítas."

Fandral suddenly surfaced, grabbed Thor, and dunked him. The two started shouting and splashing each other again.

Volstagg wondered if this was normal behavior, but judging from how calm Loki and Hogun looked, it was.

Loki looked back towards the forest. What am I so scared of? Being near the river didn't bother me at all. He followed Hogun and Volstagg as they took the drier route down to the sandy shoreline. Fandral and Thor were still splashing each other as they walked out of the water and onto the sand. Thor had forgotten about his earlier threat to Loki in his new battle against Fandral so Loki remained dry.

The five children walked along by the shore, heading over to the docks at last, but taking their time. Thor and Fandral were soaked and shivering. Ice crystals were starting to form in Thor's hair and the snow they stepped through clung to his wet clothes.

"Br-brother, c-can you warm me up?" Thor asked Loki through chattering teeth.

Loki shook his head. "I just started with magic a week ago." He thought about it. "When we get back to the palace, we can get some cider. I bet you can beg some drinks from the cooks, you look miserable enough."

Thor glared at him. "You pushed me."

"I tricked you into stepping back," Loki waved a hand. "There's a difference."

Thor was about to try a snappy answer when we heard a familiar whine overhead. They all looked up. It was an airship. The sleek gold craft cut through the air as it soared overhead. "Hey, is Jaro aboard?"

They looked.

"I don't see him," Loki hummed, sharpening his sight, "Just some Guard." The waters tides waved up, just touching Loki's boots. The ocean was deep and even Loki's sharpened sight he couldn't see through much. Anything could be hiding there. He stepped back, away from the water's edge.

"Come on Thor, before you freeze to death."

* * *

**oops. i posted the chapters in the wrong order. i fix**


	8. Stable

Loki's guess about begging drinks was correct and the cooks gave all the children some nice warm cider to warm them up from the nippy day before dinner. After dinner, Thor took his drink back up to the Royal wing and now lounged in front of a fireplace with a red blanket wrapped around his shoulders. His head was nodding as he trained vainly to stay awake.

Loki stared into the fire and was able to see Thor finally succumb to sleep in his peripheral vision. Someone would wake him up for bed eventually.

The only reason I'm doing this is out of curiosity, Loki promised himself as he stood. Curiosity about Sif's condition, and because I might have a chance to overhear more of Fey and Eir's conversation about me. Slítas was asleep, so he managed to leave the royal wing without an escort. He made sure to grab the shot glass Sigyn had given him as he went.

Loki was in luck, and he met no one on his way to the Healer's ward. Once there, he quietly opened the door and stepped inside. There were few patients and fewer medics on duty. Sigyn was mixing up something in a worn wooden bowl.

He stepped up to her, but remembered that he had scared last time and tried to make some noise. It was enough for Sigyn to hear the noise, glance up at him, and almost knocked her work off the counter.

"Loki! Um, you're back again. Did you hurt your magic?"

Loki shook his head now. "I'm fine. I just came to return this. You were right. It tasted terrible. Luckily I managed to get some cider from the cooks with some unwilling help from Thor." He set it next to Sigyn's work. Whatever she was doing smelled sweet. There was a hint of jasmine in the air.

"I also heard that Sif's still cursed," he added.

"She's resting," Sigyn said. "Eir and Fey were trying to undo the curse but they aren't having much luck. It's causing her no physical harm."

"I see," Loki nodded slowly. He wasn't entirely sure why he had even come here to check on her. Seeing Sigyn was an unexpected pleasure though and it distracted him from thoughts of Sif. Sigyn's beauty was plain compared to Sif but there was warmth in her eyes that Sif lacked and her smiles were real. Like most healers, the sweet scent of herbs seemed to cling to her form and the jasmine scent was especially prominent.

"What are you making?" he asked, waving a hand to the mixture.

"Just a healing salve," Sigyn shrugged. "It's not done yet, but you drink it." Color crept even higher up her cheeks when she realized what she said. "I mean it's a potion! You don't drink a salve, you apply it to the wound." She looked at her feet.

Loki laughed quietly. His laugh was as silken as his voice. "I understand what you mean," he promised.

Sigyn looked back up at him, entranced still by his beauty. "Uh, right, yes." She stuttered.

Loki smiled. He had a small set of fangs, a rare trait for an Asgardian, and his smile highlighted them. Sigyn looked hopelessly to the ground.

"Um, uh, L-Loki?" Sigyn asked quietly after a few seconds.

"Hmm?" Loki asked as he looked at the ingredients Sigyn was using and tried to guess what the potion was for.

"Did you really hurt Sif?"

Loki turned back to her, "you just said the curse _isn't_ hurting her."

"No," Sigyn admitted, accepting Loki's dodge. "What about Jaro?"

"Jaro?" Loki scoffed, "what about him?"

"You hurt his hand."

Loki gave her a confused look, "no, I just knocked the dagger out of his hand before he could hurt Slítas."

"That's not all you did," Sigyn whispered.

Loki watched her carefully, "what do you mean Sif?"

"I mean you really hurt, really. His arm's in a sling, and Fey's keeping him for overnight observation."

"What?" Loki repeated. Confusion clouded his eyes. "I wasn't trying to hurt him."

Sigyn shrugged, "you did. I don't know how badly. Fey looked worried though after she finished examining the injury. Did you order Slítas to attack him?"

"What? No," Loki shook his head. "Jaro was being a bully and Slítas just made him stop. He wasn't trying to hurt him, just teach him a lesson."

Sigyn nodded again. She hadn't thought Loki meant harm. Loki's a good person.

"Can I see him?"

"He's asleep, Fey gave him a potion." Sigyn told him, "So is Sif."

Loki didn't really notice about Sif. Jaro's injuries were severe enough that Fey wanted him to sleep. Eir's words suddenly returned to him: _"I don't think he's stable anymore."_

What did I do?

"Loki?" Sigyn asked quietly.

"I'm alright," Loki dismissed. "Bye Sig," he said abruptly. Then he turned and walked away.

"Um, bye," Sigyn said quietly. Loki was already out of sight.

* * *

Thor didn't like his dream that night. He was on the Bifrost and could just see the tops of the palace in the distance. It was dark out and the Bifrost's brilliant light was muted. Something seemed wrong about it, and Thor was disconcerted to find that he was unarmed.

Warily, he started walking towards the palace. The shadows seemed to eat the Bifrost up behind him. He stopped when he thought he heard someone following him. The second set of footsteps stopped with him and stepped when he stepped forward. I must be imagining it.

Then he heard footsteps again without needing to walk. Thor's breath caught as he slowly turned around. His heartbeat accelerated as someone limped out of the shadows – or rather something. When Nira had gone on her killing spree a few weeks ago Thor had become too curious and had moved one of the blankets hiding a cadet's body. The sight had terrified him, and now, that same cadet was behind him still dead.

Thor took a terrified step back away from the body, its limbs not quite matching up. Blood ran down its arms and dripped from its fingertips. It landed on the Bifrost and stained it red. The red spread along the bridge, replacing its rainbow colors with that same red. Somehow, the Bifrost was sticky and Thor's boots stuck to it.

Run! Thor told himself, feet frozen at the nightmare. Run! He started running towards the palace. No matter how fast he ran the palace got no closer and the slowly limping cadet got no further behind. In fact, it was slowly catching up to him.

It was as if the Bifrost itself was bleeding now. The only sounds Thor could hear was his own breathing and the slow but steady shuffling behind him. Thor felt a cold hand touch his arm suddenly and he jerked awake in fright.

For an instant, all he saw was red, but then he realized he was simply staring into the fire. Thor took a deep breath, feeling sweat on his forehead and running down his back. What a nightmare. There was a click above him and Slítas nudged him again with his head, scales cold. Slítas was the cold hand.

"I'm fine," Thor told the snake, surprised and grateful that Slítas had managed to jolt him awake. It was fortunate he hadn't been sitting in a chair or he would have fallen out of it.

Eirill was right, I shouldn't have been there and looked at that body. If battle's that messy then I don't know if I want to partake in it. Loki doesn't even flinch from that sort of stuff. It was clear which to Thor which brother would make the better king.

* * *

**hi! I think i missed an update, sorry. okay, both brothers are having trouble now. Yes, i tried to make Sigyn like Hinata from _Naruto_. If anyone reads that, let me know how i did. **

**The Asgardians are a race that heal almost instantaneously, so you can understand why Loki would be confused about Jaro's injury. In the first Thor movie, Loki could be described as unstable and this is where it began. Loki knows what he heard Eir say and the last thing you want an insane person to do is to believe that they're insane. Now, i'm not saying he is - yet, but later on... More so. **


	9. A Daisy

Sigyn was picking flowers the next day. The flowers were Skypetals, and the juice of the petals could be used to sweeten potions. She had taken potions herself growing up and had agreed with Loki that any potion she made wouldn't taste as bitter as to make you throw up. True to their name, the petals of the Skypetal were the exact deep azure blue of the clear winter sky that was currently out.

Picking flowers also distracted her from her thoughts of Loki. She remembered how she had smiled at him. He called me Sig before he left, that's a nickname, that's good. I was gone for a month but it seems he still likes me.

She was still worried about what had happened last night. He was so worried about what he did to Jaro and Sif both. I hope he's alright now. Absentmindedly, she picked a white daisy and tucked it behind her ear. Maybe once she was done collecting the Skypetals, she could use more of the daises and weave a crown of flowers.

"Slítas," an all too familiar vioce called out, "would you get back here you crazy cobra?"

Sigyn felt her color rising. That was Loki's voice. Loki's in the forest.

"There you are, now hold still," Loki ordered Slítas. "I don't want to hit you by accident."

Hit you, Sigyn frowned. What is he talking about? She picked up her basket of flowers and crept over to where Loki's voice was coming from. After a second she heard the sound of something thonking into the wood of the tree. The noise repeated itself.

She saw a throwing dagger embedded into the tree trunk, its hilt vibrating. Sigyn put her back against a tree and stood there quietly. Once Loki was done throwing then she'd come out.

There were the sounds of Loki hitting the tree, but blades also clattered to the ground or got lodged in a bush. He's hitting a little less than half the time, Sigyn decided. Oh, Loki's probably going to be embarrassed when he finds I've been watching him or he'll think I'm following him. She jumped when one of his blades hit the tree she was hiding behind.

Loki's practice fell quiet. Sigyn waited to make sure he was done and then peered around the tree to where Loki was standing. Throwing blades radiated around him. They were either in the trees or laying on the ground. She realized she had heard wrong, most were in the trees. He had good aim.

Now was the perfect time for her to leave. She took a step away from her shelter and her foot crunched on the snow. There was a quiet hiss from Slítas and Sigyn froze with a tremble.

"What is it?" Loki asked Slítas.

Sigyn closed her eyes and tried to breathe quietly. Maybe he'll go away.

"Hi Sigyn," Loki said.

Sigyn slowly opened her eyes and turned her head. Loki was standing right beside her. She let out an eek and collapsed.

* * *

Sigyn opened her eyes. She was warm and comfortable. Someone moved beside her and she turned her head, opening her eyes slightly. Her color came back and her eyes snapped open when Loki sitting next to her.

He must have cast a spell because the winter chill wasn't bothering her. She was laying on the ground on the dry grass. Next to her was her basket of flowers.

Slítas nibbled on Loki's hand and the prince glanced her way with those enchanting eyes. There was worry in them. "Are you alright?"

He's asking me if I'm alright. Sigyn couldn't nod.

"You've only been unconscious for a few minutes," Loki promised. "I didn't mean to scare you. I guess I really am that quiet."

Oh, he's blaming himself! "It wasn't your fault," Sigyn promised quickly. "You just surprised me that is all."

"It must have been quite a surprise," Loki said with a wry humor and another smile.

Sigyn couldn't speak and so mutely stood, still blushing sharply. As she did so she noticed Loki's fingertips were bloody. "Are you alright?"

Loki gave her an odd look and then realized what she was talking about. "It was just my blades," he tapped his satchel where the throwing blades now were. So far, no one had noticed his most recent theft of weapons but he was sure they would. "I know how to use them but in battle I'm going to have to rapidly throw them like I was just trying to do. It uh, didn't work."

He took out one of his throwing blades. They looked like normal daggers only were needle straight with no designs or handguard. "Something about me just can't get the hang of throwing these. I'll figure it out eventually I suppose." I'll need to; Jaro is going to want revenge after his humiliation yesterday.

"I know you will," Sigyn whispered.

Loki paused putting the blade up and then slipped it into the knapsack. Someone having so much confidence in him was an odd feeling. She's not even family like Thor or Frigga.

"Today's Friday, don't you and Thor have extra lessons?" Sigyn asked quietly.

"Next Friday probably," Loki admitted. "The tutor wasn't expecting to see us report in." He wished Sigyn could just be in the classroom with him and learn everything he did. She had separate lessons though, both because she was a healer and a girl. She's a girl, so what, it doesn't make her inferior. When he was King, he'd do something to fix that.

Loki distracted himself from those thoughts. "Those are Skypetals right? To help make potions edible."

It took Sigyn a moment to realize he was talking about her flowers. "Oh! Yes. You made a good point about the taste before. I never really thought about it before. The potion I'm working on lets me add them without interfering with its effects."

"Good luck with it," Loki surprised himself by his sincerity. "If you're done I could walk you back to the palace."

Sigyn had actually wanted to collect a few more Skypetals, but how could she say no? She nodded and Loki held out a white daisy. It was the one from her hair, "Here, um, hold still."

Sigyn froze as Loki leaned closer to her and tucked the flower behind her ear. His hands were pleasantly cold. Most mage's hands were warm from their magic, but Loki's were cool and his fingers were soft as a pleasant summer breeze.

She tried to say something, but her voice was suddenly gone. Loki smiled, as if he didn't mind, and picked up her basket for her. Any thoughts about Loki's dark actions with Jaro and Sif vanished from her mind as she followed him back to the palace.

* * *

**Ah, fluff scene. I told you i'm capable of doing fluff scenes! In Norse mythology, Sigyn is the wife of Loki and this is them as children. Sigyn is so Loki's opposite. She's sweet and shy where Loki is dark and withdrawn.**


	10. Helpless

It was too dark for Loki to see. The darkness lifted slightly, and Loki's sight adjusted enough that he was able to make out he was in the palace. It was empty and very cold.

He gulped and looked around. Well, at least he wasn't at the lake again. Suddenly he heard footsteps coming down the hall. "Who is it?" Loki called. The figure came into view, blonde hair flowing as he ran towards him. "Thor?"

It _was_ Thor. He was injured, his clothes torn, holding an arm to his chest, blood running from a cut on his cheek. He looked exhausted. Thor stumbled and crashed to the ground. He didn't get back up.

"Thor!" Loki ran over, skidding as he went down knelt. "Thor?" He carefully touched Thor's shoulder.

Thor opened his eyes, "brother?"

The air chilled even further, and Loki saw ice slowly creeping along the floor and walls. What, what was this? Loki subconsciously tried to pull Thor closer, but he stood, trembling. A Jötunn was walking down the hall toward them, ice crystalizing into a blade that came from his wrist to a point beyond his fingers. The Jötunns eyes seemed to glow red in the dim light.

Loki froze, terrified, but Thor stood tall. "Keep away from my brother."

The Jötunn laughed, stepping forward where he could be better seen. It was no ordinary Jötunn, it was King Laufey. "Æsir," he rasped. "You think you stand a chance against a Jötunn?"

"You aren't hurting my brother," Thor spat. He pushed Loki behind him when the young mage tried to step forward.

That's Laufey! Loki thought with a strike of terror.

Laufey smiled and held out his other hand. A sliver of ice appeared like a double sided kunai. He twisted the blade slightly so it was between his fingers.

Loki didn't recognize the position Laufey had gotten into. "Thor…"

Thor raised a sword that Loki didn't know he had defensively, keeping in front of Loki.

Laufey flicked the blade up slightly, and then threw it. The move was so fast, so minimal that Loki almost missed it. He could barely see the blade but he saw it hit Thor. Thor paused, flinching back slightly and lowered his eyes. His breath had a hitch.

Laufey bared his wolf fangs.

Thor suddenly dropped the sword and collapsed. "Thor!" Loki caught him before his head hit the ground. Loki looked at Thor in horror. Laufey's ice blade was in – through – Thor's chest. "Thor…" Blood seeped through the wound to his fingers. Terrified, Loki grabbed Thor's hand, feeling his brother's pulse.

Someone was suddenly beside him, kneeling. She put her small hands on the injury to try and staunch the bleeding. Loki looked in shock when he recognized Sigyn trying to help. "Sig…"

"Lo…ki…" Thor whispered, blue eyes glazing over. His grip on Loki's hand slacked and his body relaxed, his eyes not leaving Loki.

Loki's fingers were on his wrist and he heard nothing, no heartbeat. "Thor," Loki felt his eye sting. Sigyn lowered her bloody hands.

Loki looked up at Laufey, hate in his eyes. "You monster."

"I am a Jötunn," Laufey smiled, raising his ice blade.

Loki carefully set Thor's body to one side and stood, trembling. Laufey moved fast, faster than Loki thought possible for a Jötunn. He gasped as Laufey grabbed him by the throat and hauled him up. "You weakling, you think you have the power to harm me. You have no power, no strength."

Loki could feel cold seeping into his neck. He raised a wrist, flicking his blade from his sleeve but Laufey grabbed his wrist with his other hand and snapped it. The blade slipped from Loki's fingers, clattering to the ground.

Laufey raised the blade to Loki's cheek, making a neat slash.

Loki could feel the blood run down his face.

Laufey's eyes flickered away from Loki to Sigyn as she picked up Thor's sword. He apprised the young healer. Sign was trembling but holding her ground. "Put him down."

"Now why would I do that, girl?" Laufey asked curiously.

Ice was covering the floor and now tendrils of it reached up around her legs. Sigyn looked down in shock and swung her sword at it. It didn't even scratch it.

Laufey moved his free hand and the ice crystallized around her, trapping her in ice. Loki squirmed in Laufey's grasp but looked in horror at her. "Sigyn!"

A shard of ice materialized around his fingers and he threw it at her. Sigyn, crystallized still, shattered. "No!"

The Jötunn king laughed again and threw Loki across the room.

Loki screamed, and jerked awake, falling out of bed.

Almost instantly Loki's door opened and Thor ran in. "Loki!"

Loki looked up from the ground. "Thor? Thor! You're okay!" He was on his feet in an instant and pounced on his brother, knocking Thor off his feet.

Thor gave Loki a surprised look and tried to untangle his brother from him. "Another nightmare?"

Loki nodded and slowly moved so Thor could get up. If Thor's alright then so is Sigyn. Slítas uncoiled from where he had landed after being kicked off Loki's bed – _again_ and let Thor calm Loki.

"Are you going to tell me about it this time?" Thor asked quietly.

Loki didn't say anything, remembering bout Laufey.

"Loki are you alright?" Thor asked suddenly, leaning over. He touched Loki's cheek and his fingers came away bloody. Loki raised his own hand. There was a neat slash on his cheek.

Pain suddenly flared in his wrist as the injuries realized he was awake. Wincing, he lowered his eyes and held his wrist, fingers tracing the wound – it was broken. Impossible. It was impossible… that was a dream! He was awake, he shouldn't have… couldn't have the injuries.

"I am fine," Loki promised. "I must have just landed wrong and hurt my wrist. I must have scratched my cheek to." He fibbed smoothly. The reality of his injuries terrified him, telling Thor would do no good; it would just make it even more real.

Thor gripped Loki's shoulders, holding him at arm's length so he could get a better look at him. "Brother, you-you do know that you can tell me anything. I won't ever get mad no matter what you say or do. You're my brother and I'll never turn you away."

Loki nodded numbly, a drop of blood from the cut on his cheek landing on his hand.

* * *

**Nightmares like that are exactly why Loki doesn't like Jotunns and why he reacts so badly to finding out he is one. Guess what race you can blame: Chitauri. **


	11. Persistence Pays Off

Thor bounced on his toes. He had already finished eating his breakfast and was waiting for Loki to show up. Where was he? Loki didn't have near as much of an appetite as Thor, but he rarely missed a meal. Did he pull an all-nighter with his nose in a magic book again?

There was still no Loki when Fandral, Volstagg, and Hogun got ready to leave their table. They looked back at Thor, not wanting to leave their prince and new friend behind. "I'll catch up," Thor promised them.

His friends reluctantly left. Thor waited for a few more minutes before starting to walk to Loki's room. He was stopped in his walk by Sigyn who was just coming down a set of stairs. She managed a curtsey.

"Sigyn," Thor greeted. He didn't smile when he saw that her eyes were red as if she'd been crying. "Is something wrong? Did you and Loki have a fight?"

Sigyn gave a dry laugh and shook her head slowly, eyes lowered, "I-I wish we had. Have you heard about Jaro?"

"Loki hurt Jaro's hand," Thor shrugged, "I saw him do it."

"Loki did a lot more than that," Sigyn whispered.

Thor frowned. "What do you mean?"

* * *

Loki had gotten a servant to bring up his food, a little blonde thing with really bright blue eyes. She had set his food down and nearly run from the room, terrified that Loki was going to hurt her.

Is that how everyone else thinks of me? Loki thought to himself. A monster? Something to stay away from?

Loki looked down and wiggled the fingers of his left hand. I crippled Jaro. He'll never be able to move the fingers of his left hand again. That was as bad as Laufey destroying one of Odin's eyes. Is that what I am? A monster like Laufey?

Loki hadn't had appetite enough to eat, and the food was still sitting where it had been left. It was untouched despite ifnally being cold enough to eat without burning his mouth. After staring at his meal for what seemed like hours, Loki felt his eyes start to sting again.

He stepped away from the food and threw himself onto his bed, burying his face into his pillow. Odin had always frowned on crying, and the last time Loki had done so was over a century ago. He cried now, great racking sobs that hurt his throat and made it hard to breathe.

"I didn't ask for this," Loki whimpered as he clutched the pillow to his chest. He hadn't told the Tesseract to change him! Jaro and Sif deserved to be put in their place, but not like this.

Slítas jumped onto his bed. He slithered over to Loki's head and clicked quietly by his friend's ear, nudging him with his head.

Loki reached up a hand blindly and Slítas let Loki drag him into a hug. The cobra continued to make quiet little chirp clicks as Loki clutched him. Its poor Jötunn friend…

"I'm not a monster," Loki sobbed as he finally raised his head from his pillow, "I'm not!"

Slítas head-butted Loki's cheek in response, trying to say that he wasn't. Its crystals were dark yellow with worry as it tried to comfort Loki. Loki held Slítas as if he were a pet dog, stroking his scales spine in long, rhythmic movements. The repetition helped slow Loki's sobs. After a few minutes, they stopped.

"Thanks Slítas," Loki whispered.

Slítas nuzzled him, saying that he didn't mind. It wasn't as if Loki's clutching grip could strangle him.

Loki relaxed his grip on Slítas, and the cobra held his head up. Gently, he nipped Loki. He kept at it until Loki glared at him. "What? I'm not up for your mischief today." Slítas did it again.

Loki relented and sat up. Slítas dropped off of the bed and slithered over to the doors of Loki's balcony.

"This had better be good," Loki warned as he got up and walked to the doors.

Slítas wanted out, so Loki opened the doors and followed the cobra onto the balcony. The balcony outside was covered in snow, and icicles hung from the parapet. A nice, chilly breeze tugged at his hair. Loki relished in the refreshing chill, not the least bit cold despite being barefoot and with no jacket.

He walked onto the balcony after Slítas and the snake motioned down with his nose. Loki looked down and saw a figure in the snow covered courtyard that served as a training ground and sparring ring for Thor and some of the other nobles during the summer. Now it was just the one figure.

Loki had recently seen a spell that allowed him to sharpen his sight to let him see further. He called on it now, and felt his eyes sting in a different way as the spell temporarily altered their molecular structure. The figure standing in the snow was Thor. His features were gloomy.

It was surprising that he was alone, but judging from his body language he had likely chased away Fandral and Hogun. Slítas spiraled up the support so he was sitting on the railing. He careful tugged Loki's sleeve and then motioned down to Thor.

Loki knew what he meant. "I'm not going down there." For an instant he remembered shattering the glass vial in the Healer's Ward. "If I did, I'd probably hurt him and its Thor. I don't want to hurt him." He clenched his hands on the parapet and unexpectedly felt pain.

He winced and removed his hands. The snow on the railing was red as were the icicles hidden in the snow that he had not seen, and had cut his hands on. The injuries healed almost instantly, as was normal. Even the winter itself seemed to be fighting him.

Loki liked winter a lot more than summer. During the winter, his magic seemed to peak. The only reason he even wore a jacket was to satisfy his mother's nagging. It was very different in the summer where the bright sunlight stung his eyes. During the heart of summer when all the other children were out playing, the heat would make Loki feel faint and drive him inside.

"Jötunn," Loki muttered to himself. Maybe I am a Jötunn like Jaro said. There is my ice magic, and my love of the cold. I might just be a monster after all.

Slítas clicked at him and puffed up his hood, irritated with Loki. If Loki went down and spoke to Thor, then Slitas was sure his Jotunn friend would feel better. Loki didn't want to be in a better mood right now. The snake gave a quiet hiss in irritation when he realized that Loki wasn't going to do anything.

Slítas fell down to the balcony and followed Loki back inside. Loki closed the doors with a wave of his hand, but he did it so fast he almost got the tip of Slítas's tail. Slítas let him know, though in hindsight it probably would have been better to stay quiet.

Loki winced and sat on the bed. He needed to make sense of this. The Tesseract was trying to help me, but it didn't work like it thought it would. It gave me this curse. Nothing will ever be normal again. I just need to stay away from everyone, so I don't hurt them.

That's the right thing to do, wasn't it?

* * *

Thor looked up at the dark gray clouds overhead. It looked like there was more snow coming. That should cheer Loki up at least, Thor reflected, he loves the winter.

He heard someone crunching through the snow behind him, but he didn't turn. Is it Fandral again? Fandral meant well, but Thor didn't want company right now.

A playful breeze tugged at his hair and danced around him. Somehow, it had gotten even colder. Thor's fingertips, already numb from the cold suddenly tingled with an odd energy. He didn't understand what it was and glanced over his shoulder.

The figure in the snow had black hair instead of blonde, and was not wearing gloves or even a jacket. "Loki," Thor smiled and walked over to him, his boots sinking in the snow. His little brother was somehow standing on the surface of the deep snow.

Loki didn't say anything, just flicked his hand in something of a wave hello. Thor stopped walking. The siblings were only a few feet apart. Despite Thor being quite taller than Loki, Loki wasn't sunk in the snow, so they looked the same height.

"Loki," Thor repeated, quieter. There was something familiar about the way Loki stood. Thor reached out a hand towards Loki, but the younger child stepped back sharply.

"Keep your distance," Loki warned.

Thor recognized Loki's demeanor then. It was just as it had been before Nira, before he had started learning magic, before he had almost drowned to help Thor. The subdued, depressed tone of Loki's voice caught Thor off guard. He had not heard that from Loki in some time. Loki may be more of a handful now that he trusts himself, but he liked the new Loki better than the old one, and this one.

"Why?" Thor asked.

"I-I don't want to hurt you like I did Jaro," Loki muttered to his boots.

Thor narrowed his eyes and tried to figure out how to get Loki's confidence back.

Loki looked away from Thor, towards the palace. He had decided to come down and see Thor only to make up for almost slamming Slítas's tail in the door. As he wasn't looking and was keeping his magic suppressed, he was an easy target when Thor threw a snowball at him. It hit him in the chest and Loki jumped back. "Thor!" There was hurt in his eyes, why had Thor done that?

Thor already had another snowball in hand. "Come on, don't tell me you're going to let me win the battle 1-0." He threw the other one, but Loki neatly hopped to one side, staying on the snow's surface with his ice magic.

Loki didn't understand what Thor was doing.

"Come on," Thor challenged him, "you usually win anyway."

"You're an _idiot_!" Loki hissed at him.

"Use some of your magic," Thor challenged him again. "We're in the snow; it's bound to be strong."

"That's the problem! The Tesseract made it too strong! Now, it's to strong! It's unstable now! – like me…" Loki felt his eyes start to sting again.

Thor abandoned the snowball fight and stepped over to Loki. He set his hand on Loki's arm. "There is nothing wrong with you, never has been, and never will be."

"It's my magic…" Loki whispered, "I can't control it."

"Didn't you tell mother that it was your magic and that you would do with it as you pleased? It sounds like you're letting your magic control you."

Loki blinked in surprise. "What did you just say?"

"I said, you're magic's controlling you," Thor repeated.

Thor was a very unique child, and not because he was a prince. He had the innocent, unjaded view of a child, a view Loki had never had due to Odin's scorn. "Yeah," Loki whispered, "it's been doing that."

"You make the Tesseract sound like it did a bad thing. Why do you assume the Tesseract's touch is a curse? Can't it be a blessing? It's made you stronger! It did it because it thought you could handle it. Don't tell me you're going to give up," Thor asked. He knew what Loki's response to that would be.

"I'm no weakling," Loki vowed sharply. He looked down, but I've been acting like one. "I guess I can keep trying with my magic. Thanks for the news flash Thor, I needed it." He set a hand on Thor's shoulder, and his eyes suddenly glittered with mischief. Thor didn't realize the danger, until Loki had already stuffed the snow in hand down his brother's shirt.

Thor yelped and jumped back. His hands went up to the collar of his jacket, and he squirmed.

Loki started laughing for real, "nice dance," he cajoled Thor.

Once Thor managed to get the snow out of his shirt, he glared at Loki, knelt, and grabbed a handful of snow. Loki wasn't looking, and yet was able to sidestep Thor's snowball, dancing lightly across the snow like an elf.

"I'm going to get you for that one!" Thor vowed, "Now hold still!"

"As if," Loki rolled his eyes.

Up above, sitting coiled on Loki's balcony, Slítas flicked out his tongue. There was a pleased tone to him, as if he were smiling. He knew that would work.

* * *

**Loki is so depressed here. Thor finally knows what Loki did, but he doesn't care because they're brothers. Yet, Loki is not sure if he can even trust himself anymore. It's sad. He finally becomes sure of himself and then this happens. It's a good thing he's got Slitas and his brother out looking for him. **


	12. The Truth of the Myth

Sif lay in bed, sheets pulled up under her chin. She was still in her nightshift despite it being lunchtime. After Loki had cut off her hair she had stopped bothering to change out night clothes. It was hardly like she was going anywhere. All of her curtains were drawn, and the jewels around the edges of the ceiling were set to the dimmest setting of light.

Her room had been thoroughly cleaned of the mess Loki had caused. A search had been done by the mages but only a trace of the curse remained. It was not enough to tell which mage had cursed her or how to undo it. Without any proof, Sif could not accuse Loki and so it appeared he would get away with it. It's not just me, he also attacked Jaro and he's going to get away with it all.

Someone knocked on the door. Sif ignored it. The door opened anyway.

"I brought milady some lunch," a servant called.

Sif didn't move.

"You should eat something," the servant tried again.

"Dismissed," Sif called.

The servant hurriedly left. As soon as the servant left Sif's quarters, she stopped and dropped her glamour, revealing that she was a he. Loki was surprised by how quickly Sif had deteriorated. Well, she is a shallow bitch with only her looks. Take that away, and her "inner beauty" is revealed. He walked down the corridor, thinking.

Slowly, Sif pushed herself out of bed and walked over to the table. The food smelled nice. She pushed it off the table and it clattered to the ground. As she turned back she saw her reflection in her mirror above her vanity.

Her lovely fair skin had paled and sunk in. There were shadows under her eyes. It had been six days since she had lost her hair. She hadn't eaten a bite or really even got out of bed. Asgardians could last months without eating but Sif was young and her body was used to having rich meals, it was starting to suffer.

Worse was her head. Every lock of her gorgeous blonde hair was gone. She remembered Eir telling her that the curse's effects were permanent.

No one even cared. All that had been done was to her hair. It was undoubtedly shameful and despicable, but it caused Sif no real injury. To go from being the fairest of Asgard to-to this… She had been all but forgotten after what Loki had done to Jaro.

All of this because of some taunt she had made to Loki. So what if she called him a runt? He certainly was one, so tiny and weak. He was irritating. Such a brat, and for him to hold a blade at her fair throat... Odin ought to just get rid of him and focus on Thor.

Trembling, she was surprised again when someone else knocked. This time it was Jonelle. The rest of Sif's pack of girls was absent. Jonelle apprised Sif as the girls often did servants who tried dressing up in stolen clothes.

"Jonelle," Sif greeted. "I am not in the best of shape for visitors."

"No," Jonelle wrinkled her nose at Sif's appearance. "That you are not."

Sif leaned back a bit, surprised by the comment. Of course, Sif's girls always acted like that but suddenly Sif was on the receiving end.

Jonelle held her hands in front of her, fingers interlinked. Her head was high and haughty.

"Perhaps you should return later," Sif ordered.

"Maybe not," Jonelle delicately brushed her blonde hair over her shoulder with a hand. "You clearly seem to have a fool made of yourself. Whether it was the prince or not, I think that you were quite an idiot to try him. What do you expect me to do?" She asked at the look on Sif's face. "Sit down and let you cry on my shoulder, old friend?" She sneered, "Hardly."

Sif stared.

"You are not worth it." Jonelle shrugged nonchalantly. "Although I suggest you stay away from my girls and out court, Lady Sif," she mocked.

No, Sif thought. You and Lyessa and Sefa, you are my girls and it is my court!

Jonelle turned and walked out, not at all upset.

Sif looked like she was going to cry. No, no, no, no! She grabbed the tray of her food and threw it against the wall. Then she slammed her hands against the table. That achieved no effect but to send darts of pain shooting up her arms, but she welcomed the sensation. The pain gave her a focusing point, and let her pick out the reason her life in court was ruined. Loki, this is all Loki's fault!

Hands trembling with hate, she sat looked over at her vanity and saw her hairbrush. Taking quick, sharp strides, she snatched up her jeweled hairbrush. Sif ran her finger across the hundreds of soft bristles and across the handle. Then she threw the brush furiously at the mirror, shattering it. Pieces fell to the table and ground. The cracked shards that did not fall reflected her anger. She'd get Loki back for this. She'd see him dead.

Even if she had to learn to fight and do it herself. Fight, yeah, that's what she'd do. She'd learn to fight.

So started their feud, one that never ended.

* * *

**Loki got away with it. They can't tie him to Sif. Sif has been hiding in her room and so doesn't know that Loki is not quite "getting away" with everything. Now that Sif has a taste of her own medicine from Jonelle, you'd think she'd be a little more humble but not Sif. She's ready to fight back. This is why Sif and Loki don't get along, but she's not done yet. **


	13. Choices

Thanos glared at Chthon from his throne, apprising his 'ally.' "Well? All you have done with these nightmares is to make this Loki scared of deep water."

"The nightmares vary." Chthon tried to explain. "This fear is an unintended side effect but not one of any concern." The way this should work, Chthon thought, is that the dreams of Thor abandoning him will weaken the bond between brothers. I will know when this works when the ones about Thor being killed stop affecting him.

"The repetition of Jötunns killing those close to him will make him more willing to kill them himself. He is Jötunn after all, and when he learns that it will shock him. We need him to hate them enough that we do not run the risk of him running to Jötunnheim to see his father." Chthon warned, "You know how much Laufey misses his son."

"If these nightmares truly do so much then why only give him one a week?" Thanos pushed.

Chthon was tempted to slap his forehead. "He is a child. His mind is delicate. Too much pressure could cause damage to his still developing mind." If he doesn't get _some_ rest he'll burn himself out. "Allow _me_ to use _my_ time as I please. _You_ should focus on leading _your_ Legion."

Thanos bristled. He hated being given orders.

_I am a god!_ Chthon snapped. _I am the Elder God that created the Chitauri! I am one of the beings that created the Nine Realms! Obey me!_ One day Chthon would put his "ally" in place but that was not today. Today he simply turned and left Thanos's Sanctuary.

Chthon returned to his perch away from Thanos on the edge of the Chitauri's pocket dimension. He let himself slip into a trance so he could project his consciousness and check on his "apprentice."

Loki was by himself, near the Ífingr River. His pants were rolled up to his knees, his shoes by his side. He was splashing his feet in the river moodily. Chunks of ice drifted along in the river.

Slítas lifted his head to balance on his tail next to him, flicking Loki's cheek with his tongue. Loki scratched his cobra absentmindedly.

Chthon deepened his trance so he could hear sounds.

"Stop that," Loki told the snake as he did it again.

Slítas puffed up, crystals pink. It moved his head and flicked his tongue again, this time in Loki's ear.

"Hey!" Loki shouted, almost falling into the river in his surprise. He swatted the snake, and knocked him to one side. Glaring, he looked down at Slítas as the snake shook off the shock with a miffed look. "I'm edgy," he admitted, "I went to go see Sif."

The cobra bobbed his head slightly, listening. So was Chthon.

"She deserved what she got, but my control of the curse slipped," Loki sighed. "Sif's well on her way to starving to death. Maybe I should let her, bastard indeed."

In frustration, he threw the jacket against a tree. "If only I knew what the Tesseract did to me… I don't care what Eir says, I'm fine. I'm stable. Jaro deserved your ambush on him, and the damage to his hand won't be too severe. I mean, I… Thor's suggestion was useful, but has no idea what it is to be a mage."

The cobra braced himself on Loki so he could get up higher and look at him in the eye. The two stared at each other.

Chthon hoped that Loki would let the curse he had cast alone. It would show a certain ruthlessness that would be needed if he would work with the Chitauri. He was distracted from his thoughts of when Loki mentioned the Tesseract. Yes, the Tesseract allowed a mortal to touch it. It would have left a lasting impression on Loki. That made his eventual retrieval to the Chitauri all the more important.

Loki might have his mother's looks and magic, but it seemed he had his father's softness.

"Fine!" Loki snapped, looking away first. He threw his hands up. "You're right. I'll try! I need to do learn to control whatever the Tesseract did to me. Starting with Sif's curse is a good place. I'll fix it."

The cobra gave a victorious hiss and spiraled up Loki's arm, snuggling up against Loki's neck. With a roll of his eyes, Loki put his shoes back on and fixed his pants.

Chthon broke the trance, disgusted. It would be hard for him to toughen the boy up morally through dreams. Thanos needed a ruthless general. Of course, even if they managed to get Loki, Thanos would still need to break his spirit…

* * *

Nidallvier was a mountainous realm. Dwarven cities tend to be underground or built into mountains. Their capital was in a giant hallowed out mountain, its peak lost to the clouds. Every surface was stone, perfectly carved with amazing engravings. There was just the right amount of jewels to keep from looking either plain or gaudy. It was more decorative then the Æsir plan of gold everywhere.

Likely it would look even more amazing in person. Loki however was just using a scrying spell, looking in a copper bowl filled with spring water. Scrying was a tricky magic, worse even then tracking. The image in the water clouded suddenly. Finally, the dwarves had detected his Scrying and blocked it.

Loki held out a hand above the water and pricked his finger, letting a drop of blood land in the water. The water suddenly froze over, turning into ice – always ice with his magic. It turned red from the blood, like looking at a red frosty plane of a window.

An image appeared, materializing into a very unhappy looking dwarf. The room behind him was obscured, hiding his location. Like most dwarves, he didn't possess any of the elves beauty. His hair was a plain brown and his luxuriously braided beard was tucked into his belt. His clothing was simple brown. "What do you want you – are you Æsir?"

"Yes I am," Loki snapped, hating his Vanir black hair. He wished yet again that it was blonde like most Æsir. Maybe he could just spell it, spell it, now there was an idea. Assuming he ever did get his magic under control he would, later…

The dwarf, obviously a mage of some degree, leaned back. "Well Æsir, what do you want? You spilled your blood, a sign that you want to speak. I am listening."

"What does your race know of undoing vengeance curses?" Loki asked reluctantly. Dwarves were famous for being able to fixing problems, but he still hated asking for help.

The dwarf smirked slightly. "Vengeance curses eh? Let your emotions for your victim overwhelm your control did you?"

Loki grimaced, "I think it is getting stronger."

The dwarf laughed, a loud sound that made Loki jump. "You Æsir always come to us when you get in over your head!"

Loki glared, "if you are done laughing, can you help me undo it?"

The dwarf managed to get himself under control. "What makes you think I can help? I am just a small, twisted creature who lives beneath stone."

That was how the rest of the Realms saw dwarves, including Loki. "You are a dwarf and your kind can make the most wondrous things. Things the rest of us Realms couldn't even dream of."

The dwarf leaned back, listening, dwarves didn't get much praise.

"The things you create make the rest of the Realmers green with envy." Loki shrugged. "So your reputation says, unless I am mistaken? If I am then I could always ask the Light Elves…"

"No, no," the dwarf said quickly. Long ago, the dwarves and elves had worked together to create a powerful artifact, but got into a bloody fight over which race should keep it and ended up destroying it. They still didn't get along. "My name is Marth, and whatever the elves can do I can do far better. Tell me what you did Æsir."

* * *

Loki bounced on the balls of his heels, trying to look at everything while keeping his head straight. Random portals would open between realms as the realms orbited close to each other, and apparently it was possible to stabilize them. He was on Nidallvier for the moment, just long enough to get the counter to his curse from the dwarf.

"Here," the dwarf, Marth, walked over. He was stocky, about half the size of most Æsir and no bigger than Loki himself. In his hand was a vial of gold liquid. "Have her drink this; it's alright if you dilute it with water or such."

Loki held out his hand but Marth snatched his back suddenly and Loki missed. "What?"

Marth shook his head, wrapping his fingers around the vial. "First Æsir, you owe me payment."

"Payment?" Loki whispered. "Of course," he shouldn't be surprised. The only problem was that he hadn't been able to take anything from the treasure vault.

"Well, Princeling?" He asked.

Loki felt cold. "I never said I was a prince."

"I did hear something of the Asgardian prince who used the Tesseract. You're magic is still laced with it." Marth smirked.

Loki was suddenly aware that he was alone on a different realm.

"Now perhaps you could give me payment. We dwarves specialize in forging items not magic. This was complex to make. Of course, I could get good payment from your father I wager to get you back from me," Marth continued.

Loki raised his head, letting the hilt of his throwing blade slip from his sleeve to his palm. Stupid, he told himself. You're a prince you oaf, and you'd make a fine prize for some. Nira was just one Realmer that thought that. Slítas growled in warning.

Marth quietly had his other hand to his side, where a hex hummed silently. He threw it. Loki snapped up his blade clumsily, getting it caught on his sleeve as he dodged, feeling the hex nick his arm. The suddenly pain made him stumble and his eyesight waver. Blindly he threw his blade in what seemed to be the right direction.

He heard the dwarf screech.

Loki's eyesight came back and he looked up. His blade was in Marth's shoulder. Quickly, Loki picked up the vial Marth had dropped, turned on his heel, and jumped back into the portal.

Cursing, the dwarf yanked the blade free and shattered the portal. Loki was just able to land on Asgard. He tumbled on the grass and lay where he fell for a moment. Then he sat up. "Well, that was stupid of me and I lost my blade."

Slítas came out of his sleeve and fell to the grass, looking at Loki worriedly.

"It's not that bad," Loki promised the cobra. "Thanks for the warning."

He looked at the burn marks on his upper left arm and sighed. Loki tore off the rest of the burned sleeve and quickly wrapped it around the injury.

Glaring, he held the vial up. This had better be worth it. It would fix Sif's hair, and that at least would make a difference. I'm still me, and I still say what curses stay and which ones go – not the Tesseract. When he thought about seeing Jaro cradle his hand and hearing the shatter of glass, the thought seemed like a futile one.

If the Tesseract really had made his magic and his mind unstable then this was a vain action. It would still be something though. As he had proved before, his patience was not infinite. Odin has controlled my life up until this point, and I stopped that a few weeks ago. I won't let the Tesseract do the same thing.

He tossed the vial into his satchel and stood, deciding to just walk back to the palace. The gold color of the potion turned brown-black without him knowing, the color of nothing since nothing Marth had been paid.

* * *

**Loki is just a child here, he's nowhere near as graceful as he is when he's an adult. As for Chthon, he's messing everything up and grooming him even now to make him more tractable for when the Chitauri claim him. The relationship between the Light Elves and Dwarves is similar to how well they get along in the _Lord of the Rings_.**


	14. Two Different Points of View

Frigga was sitting on a window seat, letting the clear winter sunlight illuminate the pages of the book she was reading. It was filled with poems and had only recently been published. They spoke mainly of the summer's light and the spring's flowers, autumn's rainbow of leaves, and the wonderland of winter snow. It painted beautiful images in her mind and as she read one about the summer, she could almost imagine the cold of winter was over.

The knock on her door sounded harsh compared to the hum of bees and the song of hummingbird's wings. The reality of winter returned. She reluctantly looked up from her book and sent out a senseline. Frigga sighed when she recognized who it was.

Her maid, Fulla, opened the door at her queen's nod. The golden band that she wore across her brow to glittered in the light as she curtsied to Frigga's guest, "sir. You wish to speak to my mistress?"

"Yes," the visitor promised.

Frigga tucked a bookmark in her page and set the book aside. "Fulla, leave us."

Fulla did not often leave Frigga's side, but Frigga's gaze did not change. She gave another, deeper curtsy to her queen and reluctantly left.

"Grímarr," Frigga addressed her visitor, "this is an expected visit. I already know what you're going to say."

"You do?" Grímarr asked sharply. His arms were crossed and his irritation was clear.

"You are here about your son," Frigga said.

"Yes, Jaro," Grímarr agreed. "Do you know what I am going to say?"

Frigga's calm was a sharp contrast to Grímarr's demeanor. "I can guess that as well. You wonder why no punishment has been levied against my son, for Jaro's injuries."

"You are correct again, my queen," Grímarr muttered.

"I shall tell you why," Frigga stood in a gentle rustle of her dress's skirts. "The fault is not Loki's. He acted in defense of his pet, whom Jaro was trying to kill."

"That serpent attacked my son with no provocation," Grímarr warned darkly.

"No one was watching Slítas at the time he attacked," Frigga countered, "things happened very quickly after that. The exact circumstances of the 'attack' are not known."

"It sounds like an excuse," Grímarr warned.

"That is the story as I know it," Frigga shrugged. She spoke gently, trying to soothe Grímarr's temper. It seemed to little avail.

"I do not understand why you allow that snake to remain with your son," Grímarr challenged. "It is from Jötunnheim and clearly likes to fight. Yet, you let Prince Loki keep it in his sleeve. Aren't you worried for his safety?"

"Not everything that comes from Jötunnheim are monsters," Frigga warned, thinking about Loki.

"With respect my queen," Grímarr told her, "you were not fighting the Jötunns. _I_ fought in the War of 925 AD when they attacked Midgard." His tones suggested that, queen or not, he still thought of her as a frail, weak maiden.

"Just because I am a woman does not mean I faint at the sight of blood," Frigga cautioned. She hated it when men used that tone of voice with her. "I did used to lead the Valkyrie squadron. Despite all of the members being women, I do recall we had a proportionately high ratio of enemies killed to soldiers lost."

Grímarr knew all about the Valkyries. He also knew that they had been disbanded when Frigga had become queen. Honestly, women on the battlefield. "My point stands, my queen. That serpent should not be here."

"He is here though Captain," Frigga warned, "and here he shall remain. My son has become his guardian, and I see no reason to separate them."

"My son's hand was badly hurt by Loki's attack," Grímarr began in earnest. "Fey and Eir are having a very hard to heal it."

"I have faith in our healers," Frigga dismissed the point. She could understand what Grímarr was going through. She had gone through something similar after Loki had defeated Nira. To have one's son in danger was no easy thing.

What was worse was that, unlike with Nira, the one who had injured Jaro had gone unpunished. The royal family could not afford to favor their own children, there were laws, but Loki had not broken any of them. She would not punish her foster child unfairly. "If that is all?"

That was not all, yet Grímarr held his tongue. Frigga may be just a woman, but she was also queen. He knew a dismissal when he heard one. "For now," Grímarr muttered. With a bow, he left.

Fulla stepped in after he was gone and glanced at Frigga, "milady?"

Frigga had long told Fulla her secrets. She tapped the window seat as she picked up her book of poems. "Sit, I shall thee of it. I fear though, that Grímarr is not going to stop."

* * *

Grímarr did not stop. He had thought that since Frigga had sons of her own, and being a woman, that she would empathize with what happened to his son. He was in error there. Perhaps the king would be more receptive to his complaints against Loki and that snake. A private audience with the Allfather was not an easy thing to get, and yet with Jaro still injured, Grímarr thought that he surely would get one.

Winters on Asgard were both more peaceful then summers and more chaotic. It was winter, and many Asgardians were driven inside their homes to escape the cold. There were less outdoor activities. Because of that, in order to stave off boredom, there were more internal events such as dances and feasts.

Eventually, he dodged around enough people and reached the throne room. Petitioners could come at set times every dew days to give their grievances to the king. Odin might do something or he might not, that was how the monarchy worked. This was not the time for petitioners and so the throne room was nearly empty.

Odin was speaking with Heimdall when he entered and there were some Star Guard scattered around the walls. The two of them stopped their conversation when Grímarr entered, and Grímarr kneeled. "Allfather, I wish to speak with you if you can afford it."

"We are finished here," Odin told him. "Alert me if you do find any trace of her."

"Allfather," Heimdall said in a goodbye. His image wavered and vanished.

Grímarr jumped back slightly. He hadn't been expecting Heimdall to vanish.

Odin had ordered Heimdall to search the Realms for Nira. There was no sign of her as of yet, so it seemed likely she had been killed when the portal had collapsed. She had been proclaimed dead three times by the Vanir though, so Odin was not quick to say she was dead a fourth time. The image of Heimdall had simply been him using some of the Bifrost's magic to project his image and report in that she had not reappeared. Odin didn't bother explaining it to Grímarr.

Grímarr went down on one knee, head lowered, and waiting for Odin to speak.

"Yes Captain?" Odin said after a few seconds.

"If I may, I wish to speak with you about my son and yours."

"Loki's attack on Jaro, yes," Odin's words gave Grímarr permission to continue and to stand.

"Yes sir, I was more worried about his new pet. That was what attack Jaro so recklessly, Loki did act to protect it as you would a favorite hunting dog." Grímarr was trying a more abstract approach to the problem now, as being direct would likely earn him a similar result as it had with Frigga.

"The snake," Odin prompted.

"Yes, Allfather," Grímarr said respectfully. "It is from Jötunnheim, and you fought them just as I did during the war. You understand how dangerous they are and how they lack morals of all sorts. That snake lives in your son's jacket. Its head is right next to his neck. Should it choose to act like its true self, he could be in danger."

Odin didn't believe that the serpent would hurt Loki. It would be able to sense Loki's Jötunn heritage, and that made him kin to it. Grímarr had brought up an unintentional point. He didn't want Loki's Jötunn heritage to be known, and that snake was from Jötunnheim. It was something to keep in mind.

"You're concern for Loki's safety is appreciated," Odin told him. "What of your own son?"

Grímarr's neck was already getting sore from standing at the base of Odin's throne and being forced to look up at where the king sat. "The damage to his hand is worse than first thought. Your son's magic is very powerful and very devastating. It does not seem to be nearly as under control as most mages. That could be dangerous for him and others. One can wonder about the Tesseract's influence had on him."

"Indeed," Odin mused. He was listening.

* * *

**Shorter chapter, sorry. Also sorry for the lapse. I spent the last week driving from Texas to my new college in Arizona. Once there i had to unpack and being a first-time freshman it was crazy. School work comes first but i will try to update as often as possible.**

**As for the story, Grimarr does have a right to be upset. His son was hurt and no punishment of any sort has been levied against Loki for it - mostly because Loki's a prince. Royalty just gets more rights then others. I think that's why in Thor 2, Loki was in such a nice cell because he was technically raised as Asgard's prince. He's Jotunn though so i'm not sure how that would work. Feel free to leave a comment on that.**

**This also illustrates again the stark contrast between Frigga and Odin on Loki. As far as Frigga's concerned, Loki's her son now and she's going ot treat him like that. Odin does not. I have spoken to some kids who are adopted and apparently there are parents who think as Odin does about Loki about fostering. It's sad. Also, Odin still thinks of Loki as Laufey's son first and Frigga as "her son" first.**

**In Norse mythology, Fulla is described as a secret-keeper for Frigga. You can look her up on Wikipedia. There isn't much on her but she is a good character to fill in roles. **


	15. Never Surrender

"Milady, I brought thee some tea," a maid told Sif.

Sif ignored her, lying in bed still.

The maid poured a mug of the tea and silently unscrewed the cap of a vial, pouring in the brown-black liquid. A quick mix and a bit of magic masked the new addition to the drink. Loki glared at the potion. His arm was still sore from his adventure on Nidallvier. This had better work.

"Milady," he offered the mug to Sif. "You should drink something if thou will not eat."

He wove a charm in with his voice like Lorelei had showed him a few days ago. Sif, listening to the charm, sat up and took the mug.

"Drink it all in one gulp," Loki ordered. Amazingly, it worked, Sif drank it.

She coughed harshly, the terrible taste of the potion snapping her free of the charm. "What was that?"

"Something to break my curse," Loki said as his glamour faded.

"Your…" Sif coughed fury alight in her plain brown eyes.

Loki held out his hand, and in it were the cursed scissors. Sif hissed but Loki slashed a hand in front of her eyes with an order of "go to sleep." She passed out. That was a useful spell, Loki decided. Then he left.

He knew that as soon as Sif woke up she would tell everyone that it had been Loki who had cursed her scissors. It meant nothing that Loki had gotten the potion to make her hair grow back – and was still short one dagger with a sore arm. Luckily, Loki already had a plan.

Asgard was the only realm that was a plain instead of a sphere, and it was surrounded by the emptiness of the Void. Bifrost was the only other place besides Lookout that let you walk all the way to the Edge of Asgard. There you could see waterfalls to one side, and nothingness to the other.

Lookout itself hadn't changed much in the weeks that had passed since Loki had fought Nira. Slítas flicked out his tongue as he poked his head out form Loki's collar, crystals an excited light blue. The tiny island of Lookout was where Slítas had landed when he'd accidently come through a random portal from Jötunnheim, and where Loki had found him.

This looked like a perfect place to sit and read, sitting on the big stones underneath the oak tree. No one would bother him. He set his cobra on the rocks that were somehow still warm and ice free. Sif's cursed scissors went in one hand with the now empty vial.

He walked as close to the drop off as he dared. After a moment he threw the items as he would his dagger. They glittered as they went over the edge. There, that was done. Now it was his word against Sif's and when it came to fighting with words Loki always won.

He walked back to the tree and sat on the stones. His cobra instantly migrated to coil on his lap. Loki would swear that snake would purr if it could.

He sat there for a time and watched watching the rivers flowing over the edge, listening to the mourning whistle of the winter wind. It hadn't changed since last year or the year before or even the century before now. It hadn't taken notice of Loki's disaster. It might not have even noticed the Tesseract.

It was then that Loki realized something.

_I am only going to live for a few thousand years. I'm only going to be around for that short amount of time. Things will continue long after I'm gone. My problems are mine, no one else's – mine. Whatever the Tesseract did to me it did. I'm stuck with this so I better learn how to live with it. _

If he really was unstable then it was only a matter of time before something snaps, and he turned into a monster. If not, then he wouldn't let fear cripple my potential. His life did not end when he gained courage enough to stop cowering in terror of doing something that would make Odin frown with that disapproving look he always seemed to save for Loki.

_The Tesseract's power made my magic stronger and he would treat it as a gift instead of a curse, as something to enjoy instead of fight. I will be the most powerful mage of the Nine Realms. I will see Yggdrasil through mine own power. Then, Odin will call me his son with pride in his voice. One day…_

Loki stood. That day was not now, but it would come. He raised his head, and sensed that someone had noticed he was missing. Once Slítas was back in his sleeve, he focused his magic and teleported. The teleportation spell was the first spell he had tried to learn and he had the technique down, but this spell was extremely long range. Despite aiming for his bed, he ended up on his balcony.

Of course, the doors to the inside of his room were locked. Loki stood outside on his balcony, and tapped his foot. He tried to remember the charm he'd seen to unlock doors. Why had he only glanced at it? He supposed could just teleport past the doors, but that seemed like too mundane of a solution.

He reached forward only to have the handle move before his hand touched it. The door opened.

"Hello Thor," Loki greeted as he brushed past Thor into his room.

"Why were you locked on your balcony?" Thor asked. He looked back at the balcony, and then to his brother. "Wait, how?"

"I was trying to teleport to my bed," Loki replied.

Thor now looked from bed to balcony, "you missed. Where have you been?"

He stepped around the cobra as it slithered to the ground and over to Loki's desk. That little snake had proven its power when it had attacked Jaro.

"Here and there," Loki answered vaguely.

He spun in a circle, and checked to make sure that his spell had worked. There didn't seem to be any missing fingers. It worked! He could teleport now! That helped lighten his mood. His magic may be unstable, but it was still his.

"I have homework to do, and I think you do as well," Loki pulled out the chair by his desk and sat. He should be exhausted after such a long range spell, but he wasn't.

"Homework?" Thor gave him a blank look. "With everything going on. I mean with Sif and Jaro-" He fell quiet when he saw Loki's hand tighten into a fist.

"The essay Hárekr gave us to do," Loki prompted. "It's due Tuesday."

Thor dismissed it, "Today's only Sunday."

"It will be Tuesday very soon," Loki warned him.

"You're actually going to do that now?" Thor asked incredulously.

"Thor," Loki sighed. "Do you why we resumed our lessons?"

"Because its winter and that's what we usually do."

"Exactly," Loki smiled. "It's what we usually do. Its, its normal. Right now, I could use a bit of normal."

The idea made sense to Thor, but he still didn't want to do the essay. He wanted an excuse. Loki didn't seem to be about to provide him with one though. Thor still smiled a bit. Yes! Loki is starting to act like himself.

"One more thing brother," Thor told him.

Loki hummed, not paying attention.

Thor tugged his brother's shirt and stuffed a snowball down it. Now it was Loki's turn to jump out of his seat and yelp.

Thor started laughing, and Loki glared at him. The shock of snow might have been harsh, but the actual cold didn't bother him too much. He managed to get the snow to fall out of his shirt. Slítas clicked at Loki, as if asking if Loki needed any help.

"I'm fine," Loki told him. "I'll get him back myself."

"Get me back?" Thor demanded, "I was getting _you_ back for before!"

Loki smiled, a trickster's smile, but there was a warmth to it. He hoped Thor would never change. After a little more bickering Loki managed to shoo Thor out of his room so he could work. Through the wall, he heard the door's to his brother's room close.

No doubt Thor would glare at the wall, or start sparring against the air with his training sword. Knowing him he would probably break him. There was a tremendous crash from Thor's room.

"I'm okay!" Thor shouted through the wall.

Loki checked with a sense echo, but Thor's lifeforce was stable. What a moron. He certainly had called that. As he shuffled through the paper, he wondered idly what Thor had broken this time. Sometimes Loki regretted that his room and Thor's were right next to each other as he buried himself in his work.

* * *

Loki had just finally a rough draft of his homework, and now tried to work on revising it. The letters were dancing around the page again. He sighed and sat back. His dyslexia had never been this bad before the Tesseract. Well, it was like his mother said: _the more powerful a mage the worse they can read_. He supposed he should take it as a compliment.

Since he didn't have an adult hovering over him, Loki had decided to write with his left hand. His handwriting was now flowing and neat rather than cramped chicken scratch. It looked like a different person had written it. In fact, it looked like he had enchanted a quill write it for him.

That wasn't a bad idea for a spell either, enchant it to write whatever he said in his own handwriting. Hm, something else to look up when he had time. He had fixed Sif's hair, and he could go check with Sigyn later about Jaro. Maybe he could get his magic under control after all. Assuming of course, nothing _else_ went wrong.

He was just wondering if he should go check on Thor and see if he was doing the essay when someone knocked for entry. Whoever it was, it wasn't Thor. Thor would have just come in.

Loki decided to try and send a pulse of his magic towards the door to try and sense who was beyond it. The ripple vanished when it hit the door. Rats. Remembering that Jaro wasn't too happy with him, he sat on his bed next to Slítas and his throwing blades.

He palmed one of them before calling "enter!"

It was the maid from before, the one with eyes that were nearly too bright a blue to be natural. She gave a low curtsy and Loki released his grip on the blade. This one was no threat.

"I did not summon a maid," Loki frowned carefully as he shifted his hold on the blade so he could throw it.

"No sir, I come with a message from the Allfather. He wishes to see you in the Royal Wing," the servant responded quietly.

"It's about Sif, isn't it?" Loki asked her.

The servant didn't respond.

Loki took that as a yes. "Very well, you are dismissed."

The servant curtsied, and left.

Loki tugged his boots over to him and put them on. He stood when that was done and Slítas clicked, complaining that Loki hadn't picked him up. "Sorry Slítas, I don't know how safe it is for you to come with me."

Slítas huffed, and grabbed Loki's blade before he could.

"Give that back," Loki scolded.

Slítas shook his head and kept his jaws clamped on the blade.

Loki glared at him, but thoughts of trying to get the blade back vanished when he saw Slítas's tail twitching. He had already gotten smacked by that before and was not in a mood to repeat the experience. If Odin really was going to speak to him about Sif, having Slítas's silent support might be wise.

"Fine," Loki told him, "just stay in my sleeve."

He picked up his jacket and shrugged it on so Slítas had a place to hide. Obediently, Slítas set Loki's throwing blade back in his hand. Loki gave a huge sigh as he pushed open the doors to his room and closed them behind him. It was tempting to check in on Thor, but he didn't want to keep father waiting.

Loki hadn't seen Sif since she had given the potion, so he was surprised when he opened the doors to his parent's quarters. At first he only saw his father standing by the fireplace. Gungnir was not in his hand, so Loki supposed he was not in too much trouble. He looked up when Loki entered, one eye glaring.

Someone stood from a chair. It took Loki a moment to recognize the girl in the red dress. "Sif?"

Sif's hair had grown back alright, but it was that same ugly brown-black color that the potion had been. So that was what happened with the color change, Loki reflected. He and Marth hadn't left on the best of terms, and it seemed the dwarf had sabotaged his antidote.

Without Sif's golden hair drawing the eye and giving her an aura, her plain features were revealed. Loki had seen her in that dress before, but Sif had never looked so much like a servant stealing her mistress's clothes.

"What did you do Loki? "Odin asked. "According to Sif, you forced her to drink some sort of potion after you cursed her scissors into cutting off her hair."

"Where is the potion?" Loki asked politely. "Or the scissors, may I see them?"

Sif didn't have them. Of course she didn't have them. Loki had thrown them over the Edge.

"What about Heimdall? Did he see me?" Loki continued.

Heimdall could see everywhere, but he could only look in one place at a time. He knew from the look on Odin's face that Heimdall had indeed missed seeing him.

"Did you wake up just now with your hair back and a different color?" Loki asked Sif with the same icy politeness.

"Yes I did," Sif spat. "Your potion knocked me out!"

"A potion you don't have," Loki shook his head. "Likely you had an odd dream, and during that time the curse on you finally broke. It seems your hair color has been permanently changed, but you do have it back. You should be glad for that."

Loki was making pretend that he knew nothing about this. Sif looked to Odin, but it seemed the Allfather was going to let Loki get away with it. Get away with destroying her hair and her life. Jonelle had made it clear that Sif was no longer a friend. All her fame, all her power, all the boys love of her, all was gone.

The one good thing about being here was that Thor – ever a mess – had left one of his swords propped up by a chair. This sword was real.

Odin turned to pick up Gungnir as Loki started to walk away with a victorious sparkle in his jewel-like eyes. Sif grabbed Thor's sword and swung.

Loki's cobra hissed a warning from inside his collar and that may have very well saved his life. He turned back in surprise and tried to flick his dagger from his sleeve._ I don't have it, I threw it at Marth!_

Desperately he ducked and raised his hand. Somehow, he managed to hit the middle of the blade and not the edge. He felt the edge cut his hand and an icy cold sensation as the metal cut him. The failed deflection was enough that it only clipped his shoulder, and he yelped in pain.

Odin turned at the noise, but all Loki was aware of was the hate in Sif's eyes. She was off balance from the swing and unable to recover like a real swordsman would have. Sif really was trying to kill him.

Loki's adrenaline was too high for him to think of a spell, so all he did was a punch. It was a hard punch, one with his pent-up anger from her taunts compounded with his thought of 'you-are-not-going-to-kill-me.' The sword clattered to the ground.

Sif was thrown back and she tumbled, hitting the wall and landing on the floor on her stomach. Her eyesight blurred, and she pushed herself up on her elbows. _Where did, where did that power come from?_

Loki stood there, arm extended, head lowered. When his stance relaxed, he started trembling. The past month was all just too much for the child. Slítas snarled, hood puffed, crystals a furious red and worried yellow at once.

Sif shoved herself back to her feet, looking towards the fallen sword. Slítas snarled to himself – he was not going to let her hurt his Jötunn friend! He coiled back to strike and jumped from Loki to her. The girl looked up too late. She shrieked as Slítas latched onto her arm. Unlike with Jaro, this time, Slítas used his fangs and the venom that was with them.

Sif's arm instantly went numb as Slítas's fangs sank into it, and his venom tainted her veins. She couldn't move her arm. The serpent's coils were too strong and the venom made her eyesight waver. It felt as if she had just been thrown into an icy river. This cold was different though, it was if her blood was turning to ice.

Loki clutched a hand to his injured shoulder as his skin reknit itself. He jumped when he heard Sif's scream and saw her crumble to her knees. Slítas had unlatched his jaws from her arm, and again, the scales by his mouth were colored red. He dropped to the ground and watched her, as if waiting for her to die.

Odin and Loki stared in shock as they saw Sif's veins turn blue. Her lips turned black and she started shivering. Loki saw her skin turn blue around her fingernails. Was she getting frostbite? No, it was not that. His magic could sense better than his eyes.

"Oh no," Loki whispered, "transfiguration."

Slítas's venom was literally turning Sif's blood into ice.

* * *

**Yikes. Slitas does have some bite. He's also very loyal to his friend, and saved Loki from a nasty injury. I guess it's good and bad that Loki let him tag along.**

**Finally, Loki's getting starting to work with his magic although he doesn't have it under control yet. I wonder if his magic's going to go psycho again like it did with Jaro.**


	16. A Healer's Touch

Loki was in the library tearing books off of the shelves. They were already scattered around the room and the table. Some of the books were simply on the floor, but others were lying open on their spines or in heaps on tables. The shelves were already half-empty. He took another book off of the shelf, and threw it aside in disgust.

"Where is it!?" Loki demanded.

The next book was not the correct one either, and that one Loki threw across the room. It banged against a nearby bookshelf, and knocked two more books onto the floor. Normally the library was his favorite place, and he respected the books. His problem was that he couldn't find the right book.

After Sif was poisoned, Odin had taken her to the Healer's Ward himself. In the chaos it had been easy for Loki to cloak himself in an aura of insignificance and slip away unnoticed. His goal: the library and the one book he had found that mentioned Whipsnapper Cobras.

Odin had taken the book from his room, but Loki had assumed his father had put it back in the library. What if Odin hadn't? He had to! That's the only one about Slítas's race!

Loki closed his eyes, and forced himself to breathe. His heartbeat began to slow. He sat on the ground and leaned back against the now empty shelves. The book wasn't here, so he would have to remember the passage on his own. He would have to rely on a mage's memory.

Once his heartbeat slowed enough, he closed his eyes and tried to remember the page. The image of the page appeared in his mind. On the left side of the page was a picture of a Whipsnapper Cobra like Slítas only it had snow white scales and yellow eyes. The background was an icy plain.

On the right side were words in both the Asgardian and Jötunn language. Over a few seconds, the words came into clarity. Because this was a memory of an image, his dyslexia did not affect him and he was able to re-read the page.

Nothing in the passage he had read had mentioned that they even had fangs. Yet, there had to be something. Venom that was a curse to transform the blood of whomever it struck into ice… there had to be a record of that.

A sentence suddenly caught his attention. It read: "_They do not use venom in their hunts as it would have no effect on their fellow creatures of ice."_ Loki's heart sank. No effect on a creature native to Jötunnheim yes, but an effect on others. It doesn't say they don't have venom, just that they don't use it.

Loki opened his eyes and the image of the page vanished. Stupid. That was so stupid. Why hadn't he noticed that earlier? He should have. If Sif died it would be his fault…

The realization was like a slap to the face. He had very likely killed Nira when he had used the Tesseract, but there was no way to ever be sure. When Nira had been loose had watched as she had killed Star Guard. Never had he actually killed anyone himself.

If Sif did die, Loki morosely supposed that the kill went to Slítas. He looked up to the top of the shelves where Slítas was laying. Loki could just see the tip of Slítas's tail hanging over the edge.

All Loki's life, his father had told him how monstrous the Jötunns were. He had told Loki how everything from Jötunnheim was as bad as they were. Slítas has venom that can kill with one bite, but it only kills those not native to Jötunnheim. What kind of an Elder God was Ymir to create a creature like that?

This wasn't Slítas's fault. It was Loki's. He should have sent him back to Jötunnheim the instant he realized what he was. Loki had thought that he could keep a creature native to Jötunnheim as a pet without consequence. When would he learn?

Loki scoffed to himself. The question was when would he catch a break? His magic chimed in warning, and Loki glanced up as he heard quiet footsteps. It was Sigyn. She looked around at the mess Loki had made of the library.

"Loki?" Sigyn asked quietly. "I know you're emotions are going to be high, but did you really have to take it out on the library?"

She couldn't visibly see Loki, but closed her eyes and felt for him. Loki's magic was like the blaze of a fire. Before it was a cool aura of quiet power that was coiled to strike without warning, yet calm and poised like a prince should be. Now it was wild like a bonfire, liable to burn anyone nearby, including Loki. The difference was shocking. It was very easy to track.

"Loki, are you alright?" Sigyn asked.

Loki was sitting, shoulders hunched, knees pulled close to his chest.

"Something always goes wrong," Loki whispered. "Whenever I try to throw my shoulders back and try to be a prince something goes wrong." Loki smiled - a wrong thing in itself. "Maybe I'm just a bad luck charm."

"You're not," Sigyn promised. "You…"

Her words died when she remembered everything that had happened. At the heart of all of the problems had been Loki.

"You know," Loki sighed, "everything started going wrong when I started using my magic. Nira would never have captured me if my magic hadn't been active. I never would have touched the Tesseract. Everything would be fine. Me and my stupid magic."

"Magic is not a bad thing," Sigyn interrupted as she knelt next to him. "Mages call it their 'Gift' for a reason. The things we can do with it make mundanes so jealous, the miracles."

"The curses," Loki muttered.

Sigyn gave him a hard look.

"Let me tell you my list, shall I?" Loki sat up straight so he was at her eye level. "Nira, though I admit she had it coming. Jaro, who only has one hand now. Sif, certainly Sif, who I think I just killed because I didn't send Slítas back home."

"What about Jaro?" Sigyn frowned.

"I crippled his hand." Loki told her sharply, as if he were speaking to a small child he was fed up with.

Sigyn's shoulders relaxed and she sighed. "Loki, I said they were having trouble fixing the damage. His nerves aren't responding to the electronic signals from his mind, but they can be reactivated. They will. He might have a few faint scars and lose a few percent of that hand's range of motion, but it's his offhand anyway."

Loki looked at the toes of his boots. "He'll be fine?"

"Yes, and I saw Fey eating," Sigyn smiled.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Loki grumbled.

"Fey never takes time to sit down and eat when's she's fighting to save a patient's life," Sigyn promised. "That means Sif's stable."

"Have you seen her?" Loki asked quietly.

"No," Sigyn shook her head, "She's in isolation. I don't think she's regained consciousness yet, or I would have heard."

Loki nodded quietly. It was odd, but being around Sigyn calmed him. He always felt so relaxed around her. He _liked_ being around her.

Sigyn noticed the red stains on his shoulder and frowned. She reached out a hand and touched the injured arm to make sure that it had healed correctly. Loki knew better than to fight a healer. Any damage that was left was superficial, already healed over the minutes. She still checked anyway.

"Are you going to fix the library up before or after someone sees the mess?" Sigyn asked innocently.

Loki couldn't help but give a very small, brief smile. He stood and looked at the mess of the books. "I probably should. This might be difficult."

"Just use your magic," Sigyn stood after him. Her magic sensed Loki's own darken and fade slightly in that idea. "Don't you know a spell to return things to their rightful place?" Sigyn asked.

Loki nodded softly. He stepped forward and closed his eyes.

Sigyn sensed Loki's magic brightening. Its' song was a song only Loki could hear. Sigyn could merely feel the ripple as Loki manipulated the laws of physics and the elements of creation.

The books fluttered and slowly levitated off the ground. Loki didn't know the places where each one went but the books knew. Things in the palace couldn't always be described as inanimate, not with so many powerful mages living in one place.

Sigyn felt Loki's magic growing. It was unstable though. The normal ripples of power were unaligned. He was scared of his magic, so his magic didn't know how to act. She grabbed Loki's hand and let her magic touch his. Her magic was the magic of a healer, meant to give and sustain life.

_*Relax!*_ Sigyn threw the telepathic command straight into Loki's consciousness. _*Why are you shielding away from your magic? Magic is your life force. Trust it!*_

Loki hesitated at that. Sigyn's touch grounded him and he felt his magic soaring through him. Trust it, ha, trusting it got people killed. I am stuck with it though. There's no way I can suppress it anymore, and pretend it doesn't exist. The Tesseract made sure of that, and I suppose I said before that I would get it under control. Here's my chance to keep my word.

One by one the books slid onto the shelves into their normal place.

"There," Sigyn told Loki in her best scolding voice as the effects of the spell faded. "That wasn't so bad."

My magic, Loki reminded himself – _mine_. He held up his arms and whistled. Slítas had been watching the casting intently and noticed Loki's cue.

His Jötunn friend was in a lot of trouble because he had used his venom. Slítas needed to do what he was told for now. The snake jumped down from the top of the shelf and Loki caught him easily. He vanished into Loki's jacket sleeve. Sigyn had flinched back when Slítas had dropped down with a scared look, but then Loki smiled at her and she felt herself relax.

"Thanks Sig," Loki told her.

He leaned forward and kissed her lightly on the cheek. Then he walked past her and outside the library. Loki had been hiding in here ever since the accident with Sif, but he supposed he should find his father. Odin would want to speak with him.

Sigyn swooned and fell down to the floor, leaning against the same shelf Loki had been curled against a moment before. She smiled, and felt her blush return with a vengeance. Loki kissed me. He kissed me!

After a few minutes, she shook it off. He's going to confront Odin again. I should be with him. She stood and followed Loki's magic. Her prince wasn't making any effort to mask it, so it simple for Sigyn to track him.

Loki found his brother before his father. Thor snagged his arm, and stopped his brother from silently walking past him.

"What happened?" he demanded. "Why did Slítas attack Sif?"

"You shouldn't leave your real sword lying around," Loki muttered, ignoring Thor's questions.

"Real-why?"

"Because Sif tried her best to kill me with it," Loki snarled under his breath.

"She what?! With father there? That's why Slítas attacked her?"

"Father wasn't looking when she took her swing," Loki closed his eyes, "and yes, Slítas stopped her from trying again. If Slítas hadn't hissed then I don't know what would have happened! Yes, I cursed her scissors to cut off her hair. I also got the antidote for the curse so her hair would grow back. You know what she does when I try and help her? She tries to kill me!"

Thor hadn't suspected that his little brother had been the one to dabble in vengeance curses, and he was caught off guard by Loki's confession. "You…"

"Where is father?" Loki growled, a noise Thor hadn't heard before.

"W-with mother in the garden," Thor stuttered.

Thor stuttering was a rare occurrence, but he felt _something _wrong. The pads of his fingers tingled, as if he were holding them over a fire that was so hot it was colder than ice. That was the best way Thor could describe it.

Loki's magic had always felt like that to Thor, but now it felt… different. There were shards, fragments of energy that sang like crystals. It was the Tesseract's song likely, and it shouldn't be there. Where the crystal and the fire touched darkness formed. He realized that it scared him. For the first time in his life, he was scared of Loki.

Loki turned on his heel and walked back the way he came until he found the right hallway that took him outside to the royal family's private garden. He could hear that Thor had decided to follow him. Having his brother by his side could be an asset to Loki though, and so he pretended not to notice Thor's clumsy attempt at sneaking after him.

He felt calm, surprisingly so. There was something foreboding in the air. His magic was warning him that this wouldn't end well. Loki assured it that he knew, but he didn't have a choice. Odin was furious with him for using his magic, for injuring Jaro, and for protecting Slítas from the effects of his attacks.

With Slítas and Thor with him, Loki flicked his hand on front of him and magically opened the doors to the royal gardens beyond.

* * *

**_Sigh_. Loki's magic skipping his control is getting tiresome, and i'm the writer. A mage's magic is closely tied to their emotions. That's why most mages are very level-headed and don't lose their tempers easily. When they lose their temper their magic slips from their control. **

**If a mage is in great enough distress then they won't be able to focus on their magic. In Loki's case, he's scared of everything that's happened since he's had his magic and is blaming it on his magic. **

**Mind you, he's a Jotunn prince being raised on Asgard learning Asgardian magic and he's been through some very tramatic events and has had his magic altered by the Tesseract. The fourth paragraph from the end illustrates that despite the Tesseract's intentions its done a lot more harm then good.**

**Thanks to Sigyn he's not so scared of his magic anymore, but he's got to deal with Odin and Odin won't be too happy with him.**


	17. Winter's Ice

In the summer, the royal gardens were beautiful. There were flowering shrubs and stone paths with a fountain at its heart. A cherry tree provided shade for a bench beneath its softly rustling leaves. Butterflies and hummingbirds would flutter around the flowers and anyone nearby, curious and gentle. In the fall, the cherry tree's pink blossoms would flutter on the wind.

Now it was winter, and there were no flowers or butterflies. Everything was blanketed with a layer of pure snow. Ice glittered from the branches like prisms. Rainbows were thrown everywhere from it. Despite its beauty, there was a killing cold in the air that was waiting to pounce on anything that did not believe its power, and show firsthand how efficiently it could kill.

Loki drew strength from that killing cold, and it felt as if there was ice in his heart. He didn't fight it, but let the chill in his heart grow. A new type of strength grew. Behind him, Loki could sense that Thor was still following, though keeping his distance from Odin's inevitable wrath.

His parents were under the covered area, conversing quietly. They stopped as he walked over.

Frigga's appearance was gentle. She was not as upset with Loki as she could have been. Loki could not have known the effect of Slítas's venom, or that he was going to bite Sif. He had been able to switch Sif's cursed scissors with an uncursed pair without Frigga sensing. She had noticed after it was done, but not while he was doing it. Likely, Slítas had acted as an accomplice, living in Loki's sleeve as it did. Those two made a fine team, and she disliked Odin's decision in the matter of Slítas. Maybe, it was for the best…

Odin's gaze was far sharper than his wife's. He, like most who adopted a child, thought they were doing the child a favor and believed that the child should do as the parent wished. Loki had the same confidence as Thor as if he had a right to the title prince of Asgard, or even the right to call himself Odinson. One way to make his foster child more humble might be to focus on his pet.

"So, you still trust that viper?" Odin asked.

Gungnir allowed him to sense the Jötunn magic that Slítas was imbued with. Despite everything that had happened, Slítas was still in Loki's jacket.

"His technical classification is a cobra," Loki corrected. He added a belated, "father."

Odin was not amused.

Loki made sure that his magic was in easy reach. It was better to be safe than sorry. "And yes, I do. He never bites me. The worse he's done is nibble on my hand when I'm ignoring him, but he never draws blood."

Laufey's son calls it a he, as if it were sentient the Allfather mused. "It is from Jötunnheim, and like everything from it, a monster. His actions with Sif prove that."

"I have ice magic," Loki countered. "That's like being Jötunn."

Both the king and queen held their breath at that comment, but it seemed like Loki did not know the truth. That was another threat of having that serpent, Odin noted. This ruse of Loki's heritage needed to continue, and Slítas was counter-productive in that regard.

"I suppose my ice magic's why he likes me so much," Loki shrugged. "He doesn't want to go home. He likes being here."

"Being here trying to kill one of our children?" Odin accused. "I could see why he would want to stay."

Loki narrowed his eyes. "If Slítas wanted to kill Sif, then she'd be dead. Yes he used his venom, but it wasn't very much. He didn't even use half of a dose. All he wanted to do was make her stop."

Loki would also bet that Slítas wanted to scare Sif into leaving Loki alone. In his own way, he was as protective as Thor.

"I do not care," Odin pronounced. He held out a hand, "hand him over."

"What?" Loki's eyes widened and he took a step back. Instinctively, he raised his left hand over his right sleeve where Slítas was. "No!"

"That thing is dangerous Loki," Odin warned.

"He's not a thing. His name is Slítas, and he's mine. He'll just bite you," Loki warned.

"Give me him," Odin repeated.

Loki shook his head, and nudged his magic awake.

"Loki," Frigga said gently. She could feel Loki's magic spike. "He is dangerous and does not belong on this realm. He should be home."

Thor was about to tell Loki it was just a snake, but refrained. Unlike his little brother, he had never had a pet and certainly not one that was sentient. Loki didn't have very many friends either.

"It likes Loki though." Thor defended.

"Thor, this does not concern you," Odin scolded him. "It is just a snake Loki, hand it over before it kills someone else."

Loki shook his head no, "I won't. You'll just kill him, and he hasn't killed anyone."

"Loki," Odin growled.

"I won't," Loki repeated. "He's a friend."

Thor felt that icy cold fire again, stronger than before. Was he charging his magic? It seemed to Thor that Loki was, and it was getting colder in response.

"Stop being so much trouble and give him to me," Odin repeated, tightening his grip on Gungnir. His patience was almost out. Unfortunately, so was Loki's.

"No-I-won't!" Loki said slowly.

He threw a hand forward, acting on his latent Jötunn instincts. A spikey wall of icy shards shot from the grounds towards his father. Odin jumped back from the attack before it skewered him.

Frigga sighed. This was his first winter that Loki had been using magic. With his magic free, his Jötunn blood would rise. Out here, in the chill of winter, it would become even stronger. Odin had pushed him too far, just as Frigga knew he would.

Loki lowered his hand. Surprise reflected in his eyes. Wow, his ice magic was strong. He _should_ be training with it. The shock of the attack echoed in Odin's eyes, but there was something much darker. That darkness scared Loki, and he turned on his heel and ran.

Thor stepped out of his way as Loki raced by him. Go Loki, Thor thought.

Loki darted down the hallways. He wasn't quite sure where he was going. All he knew was that he needed to put some distance between himself and his father. As he whisked around a corner, he crashed into someone and both of them were thrown to the ground. His head throbbed from the contact, and Loki put a hand on his temple as he looked up to the interloper.

The snappy retort died in his throat. "Sig, you have quite the timing."

Sigyn was rubbing her own head. "You have a hard head. There are Star Guard behind me, and they don't look happy. What did you do?"

"Behind you?" Loki asked sharply.

Odin must have set them along the hallways. He'd been about to run into a trap!

"Thanks for the warning Sig, I owe you one," Loki promised her.

Sigyn sighed. "What's going on?"

Loki was looking for a way out, and only hummed.

"What did you do now?"

"Nothing," Loki promised. "Odin wants Slítas dead though, and I don't. We got into a disagreement in the garden. There's a lot more ice then there was a second ago." He looked out a window to the courtyard beyond.

"Loki," Sigyn warned. "There are more guards around. Your father must have guessed you'd raise a fuss."

"Raise a fuss?" Loki glanced over his shoulder at Sigyn. "Sig, Slítas is a sentient creature, as much as any Asgardian. Odin has no right to kill him." He thought about Sif, "almost no right. It's not his fault his venom's dangerous to Asgardians."

An idea struck him.

"Loki, you can't keep dodging guards."

"I don't have to," Loki smiled. "I just need to get Slítas home."

Home? "Jötunnheim!" Sigyn hissed.

"Shh!" Loki shushed her, stepping very close to the healer in training. "I'll be right back. Don't tell father."

"How do you expect to get to Jötunnheim?" Sigyn demanded.

"Simple," Loki smiled, "I'm going to open a portal gate."

Portal gates often took the collective aid of several arch mages. It took them a lot of time and energy.

"Did a curse backlash and fry your brain?" Sigyn demanded. "You think you can do it on your own?"

"None of my magic's fired my brain," Loki promised her. "I just think it's time to see if the Tesseract's touch is a blessing or a curse. Besides, Jötunnheim's the realm of winter and I'm an ice mage, so it'll be easier."

"You make it sound like you're going to charm silverware," Sigyn warned.

"If it doesn't work, I give thee permission to say I told you so," Loki retorted.

"Loki…"

Both of their magic's detected the guards closing in.

"Wonderful," Loki sighed, "now they've caught up."

There were only two guards. Odin obviously didn't think he'd be much of a threat. How amusing this was going to be, Loki mused to himself.

"Come along my prince," one of the guard said. It was none other than Commander Vir. "Your father wishes to speak with you."

"I just left him Commander," Loki replied innocently, "though I admit I was in something of a rush. I'm rather busy though, come back later."

Sigyn chewed a corner of her lip. Wow, that didn't sound like the Loki she had grown up with. It was clear the guards weren't going to come back later. She saw a smile touch Loki's lips, the knife-sharp smirk of a trickster.

"Stand back," he warned Sigyn quietly.

Sigyn stepped back as she was told. Loki was obviously about to throw out a spell, and she didn't want to be close enough that her magic got tangled up in it. She was correct, but not in the way she thought.

The temperature dropped, and she realized she could now see her breath. Loki drew on the winter's chill and ice frosted over the plane of the nearby window. It grew over the window, the sill, and onto the wall near it.

Loki wasn't using _his_ magic. He was drawing straight from winter's touch and animating _that_. Sigyn was caught off guard by the realization that it was Jötunn magic.

The other guard saw the ice spreading, and nudged Vir. Vir saw it to, and frowned in confusion. He had fought in the war of 965, and that looked like Jötunn magic. Vir felt his fingers stray to the hilt of his sword as he looked at the ice growing along the wall.

Slítas poked out of the collar of Loki's unbuttoned jacket as Loki glanced up at the guards. Then Loki raised a hand and held it out towards the guards. He tugged on the ice magic a little more, and felt another glorious tendril of it race through his system. It felt right to him in a way no other magic did.

Loki smiled, his confidence increasing. He didn't know any words to channel the power, but it seemed like the ice knew what he wanted to do instinctively and did it. The floor under the guard's feet iced over. They didn't realize the new threat until Vir tried to take a step.

Vir's boot slipped out from under him and he grabbed the arm of his friend. The other one wasn't braced either and so the both of them landed in a heap.

Sigyn couldn't suppress a giggle at the comical sight.

"Bye Sig," Loki grinned, "I'll be right back unless Laufey snatches me."

How Loki could tease about that was unknown to Sigyn but she nodded, trusting his instincts. Mages had six senses and their sixth sense was rarely wrong. If Loki believed so strongly that he could handle himself then he probably could.

Loki flicked a hand in dismissal as if he were telling a servant to leave and all of the ice dissipated. The air in the hallway became humid as the ice turned to water vapor. Then, he spun on his heel and vanished in a swirl of emerald sparkles. A few stray sparkles fluttered through the air when the swirl faded, fluttering like fireflies before extinguishing. Loki was gone.

Sigyn would give it to Loki. He had the teleportation spell down.


	18. True Colors

Loki was in the forest. It was silent there, an oppressive type of silence that almost dared someone to try and break it. He unfortunately had no choice but to do so. Hopefully any dryads sleeping in their tree nearby wouldn't be upset with him for all the magic he was about to unleash.

It was only a matter of time until Heimdall found them. That was why Loki didn't intend on staying. He was going to Jötunnheim – the realm most forbidden to Asgard's princes. It sent a little shiver of excitement down his spine. Breaking the rules was fun Loki had learned, but only if you got away with it.

Slítas clicked as he looked up at Loki. He knew he had gotten his friend into trouble.

"Don't worry Slítas, I'm not going to let Odin take you," Loki set the snake in the low branch of an oak and turned to face a small clearing.

He knew the theory of opening portals and the spells, but he didn't have the experience. Theory said that a force often called Yggdrasil untied the Nine Realms. The eight suns of those realms orbited like a solar system with Midgard's sun at the very center. During the summer, Asgard and Muspelheim – the realm of lava and fire – were closest to each other. In the winter, it was Jötunnheim – the land of ice – who was closest.

Loki had already allowed the power of winter to swirl around his magic. Now he built on it. He didn't need to weave a stable portal this time. All he needed was a simple break between the fabrics of reality of the two Realms.

He focused his power, focused it on winter's icy touch, on Slítas's home. The air distorted and then vibrated. Loki ignored the molecules of the air and focused on the fabric of space. It rippled and then shattered outwards, towards him.

The pieces of reality hovered in midair like shards of glass from a broken mirror. In each shard was a piece of Asgard's landscape. Loki looked at the shards of reality in awe. It seemed at long last he had his answer, and he thanked the Tesseract for its touch.

Beyond the tear of reality was another landscape similarly covered in snow. A breeze fluttered from the edges of the tear. It was far colder than Asgard - Jötunnheim. Loki didn't know how he was so sure, but he just knew it was. Slítas looked at the tear intently, then over to Loki. He let Loki pick him up from the branches.

"All right Slítas, now you can go home," Loki whispered.

Slítas hissed. It didn't want to leave its new Jötunn friend.

"Slítas," Loki chastised. "You have to go. I don't fancy imagining what it would be like for you in Odin's custody. Please, you'll be safe on Jötunnheim and I'm Asgard's prince. I can only get in so much trouble, especially since Sif will recover. You'll get in a lot more."

Slítas tilted its head towards Jötunnheim. He missed his home, but he also liked his new friend.

"Do it for me," Loki asked, "so I won't worry about you. I won't have to fight father. I can take care of myself in this realm, so please go to yours. You'll be fine there."

Slítas gave him a hard look. He didn't want to, but it could understand the logic behind his friends thinking. Reluctantly, he lifted his muzzle and gently head-butted Loki. Loki scratched him behind his crystals and then set his accomplice in the snow.

Slítas slithered over to the portal, a black ribbon on white snow and then turned and raised his head at Loki, hood flared. The cobra bowed and Loki smiled.

"Goodbye," Loki whispered.

Slítas vanished through the tear. A second later, Loki saw the black cobra in the image of Jötunnheim on the snow. He was home.

He couldn't help but step forward, and he idly raised a hand to the tear. Crimson light reflected in his emerald-blue eyes. The feeling was enchanting. Why did Jötunnheim's magic feel so familiar to him? It shouldn't.

Overhead, a peregrine falcon soared. Her amber eyes were cast searchingly on the ground. After a moment, she found what she was looking for and she swooped down behind Loki and transformed back into her original Vanir form. Freyja closed her eyes as she returned to normal, and her enchanted cloak of falcon feathers that allowed her to mimic a changeling rustled as the feathers settled.

Loki hadn't noticed her arrival. He seemed far too entranced by the energy coming from his tear to Jötunnheim. Freyja was about to say something, but her magic hissed at Loki. The last thing she expected was to have her magic hiss at one of Odin Allfather's sons. What was going on with it? Was it just the Jötunn energy in the air?

No, she realized with horror as she observed Loki closer. The tips of his fingers of the raised hand were no longer a pale white. Now they were a deep sapphire blue, and crimson was in Loki's eyes rather than emerald. She had fought in the Ice War against the Jötunns and she recognized the color of his eyes - as red as spilled blood but as bright as hot embers so they seemed to glow on their own.

Her magic would not hiss at one of Asgard's princes, but it seemed to have hissed at a Jötunn. Freyja stared. Odin's son, a Jötunn? Memories of Loki's immunity to the cold, even when he had been drowned in a freezing lake a few weeks ago, and of his ice magic flashed before her eyes. It was so obvious, and yet impossible for her consciousness to put the pieces together because the thought that one of Odin's sons was an adopted Jötunn was ludicrous.

Loki suddenly took a step forward towards the portal, and all thoughts about Loki's heritage flew out of Freyja's mind. She ran forward and grabbed Loki's shoulder, yanking him back before he could step through the portal. Her touch, and the spike of magic Freyja dosed him with, seemed to break Jötunnheim's hold on the child.

Without any hesitation, she reached out with her magic and touched every piece of Asgard's shattered reality hanging in the air. Her magic nudged the pieces to life, and encouraged them to return to their proper places. The pieces needed no encouragement. Loki's break in space was unnatural and both Asgard and Yggdrasil were glad to be able to fix the damage. They returned to their proper pieces like the shattered fragments of a mirror returning to its frame.

Loki caught one last glimpse of Slítas in the snow, and then the tear was gone. He flinched when the tear closed, and the icy magic that had been playfully tugging at his clothes shrieked and shattered. The world seemed to spin around him, and his legs gave. Freyja was fast, and she managed to catch Loki in her arms.

"Easy my prince," Freyja told him gently. "The exhaustion from opening the rift is starting to take effect."

I'm lying though, Freyja thought to herself darkly. Loki was not her prince. Even as she watched the blue vanished from his skin, and the red from his eyes. Within a handful of seconds any trace of Loki's Jötunn heritage was gone, and he was left looking as Asgardian as ever.

"What happened?" Loki slurred quietly.

"You were tangled in Jötunnheim's magic," Freyja explained as honestly as she could. "I freed you from it."

"Thanks," Loki said. His head nodded as if he were about to fall asleep.

Freyja realized that Loki didn't know what he was. He still thought he was Asgardian. Carrying on without informing Loki of his parentage would lead only to darkness. She wasn't sure where that thought had come from, but believed it was correct.

"I'll be okay in a minute," Loki promised and tried to stand up.

Freyja firmly held him in place. "Loki, you just opened a rift in space by yourself. You are in no shape to go anywhere."

Loki squirmed. "I'm fine. I recover really fast from a spell's drain."

After about ten seconds, Freyja was amazed to feel Loki's lifeforce start flowing normally again rather than sluggishly from the drain of opening the rift. Loki had not been exaggerating. When Freyja released him, he was able to stand on his own with little risk of feinting from exhaustion. This was astounding. No one had that sort of stamina to be able to open a rift by themselves, let alone a novice child!

"Well," Freyja sighed and stood with a rustle of her feather cloak. "It seems you know your limits far better than I. My apologies."

"It's okay," Loki promised her.

Even the slur in his voice from his half-conscious state was gone. Freyja would appoint Loki's rapid recovery to his contact with the Tesseract. Despite the lack of a slur, the dose of Jötunnheim's magic seemed to have overcharged the boy. It was like he was drunk on too much magic.

Freyja touched her necklace Brísingamen for a boost of the magic she had stored in it, and to quickly cleanse the contact with Jötunnheim out of her system. As she did so, she sensed she was being watched. A smile flashed on her lips when she identified the source.

"Stop staring Heimdall," Freyja scolded without looking up. "Everything is secure here. We'll return shortly."

Loki turned to face her, but his balance was off and he stumbled to one side as he tried to step. "Heimdall? You can tell when he's looking at you?"

Despite the fact that Loki's body language is that of a drunk, his mind seemed as clear as ever. Of course the magic of his home Jötunnheim wouldn't hurt him.

"Heimdall is a clairvoyant – the most powerful one alive currently – but still just a clairvoyant," Freyja dismissed.

She walked over to him, and gently cupped his right cheek in one hand. Loki leaned his head into her hand as Freyja's magic flowed through Loki's veins. The overcharge of magic he had gotten from Jötunnheim was absorbed into Brísingamen and quickly purified into pure energy, untainted of Jötunnheim's touch.

"Better?" She asked Loki.

The last traces of the crimson color in Loki's eyes faded so that they were once more emerald with flecks of Tesseract blue. He nodded.

"Good," Freyja said and stood. "I think I'd better take you back to the palace. What you need is rest."

Loki nodded again, and then suddenly tensed up. "Slítas! Did it work? Is he back home?"

"I saw your snake through the portal before I closed it. He's fine." Freyja promised.

Her answer relaxed Loki. So, Freyja mused. You did this to protect Slítas. If nothing else Loki, you are a good friend.

Loki stepped close to Freyja and she put a hand on her shoulder in preparation to teleport the two of them. His eyes, Freyja thought as her teleport activated. They were royal red. Laufey had a son...

Crackles of amber magic engulfed them and then neatly faded. Loki blinked open his eyes. Freyja had taken them back to the palace, but he swallowed when he realized he was in Odin's throne room. Odin was there, and his father looked furious. He felt himself cringing back. If Freyja had been able to sense the tear to Jötunnheim then he would have been able to as well.

Instead of flinching from the trouble, he stood tall. Opening a tear was difficult for two or three seasoned mages, yet Loki had done it by himself as a novice. Thor and Slitas had been right. The Tesseract's touch wasn't a curse. It's a blessing that had made him much stronger then before.

"What did you do?" Odin demanded the child.

"I opened a tear to Jötunnheim," Loki said blatantly. "I sent Slítas home where you can't hurt him. He's neither a concern nor a threat to Asgard now. Freyja can agree with me that the tear is now healed and nothing came through to Asgard."

Freyja hadn't expected to be dragged into this. She spoke reluctantly. "He is correct, no harm was done."

"No harm," Odin growled. "DO you know what could have happened?"

"One of Jötunnheim's few mages could have detected the tear, taken control of it from me, and used it as the staging grounds for an invasion," Loki said in a somewhat tired voice. His confidence surprised himself and the befuddled look on his father's face helped.

"No one did though," Loki continued. "There was no sentient life near where my tear was, and although Jötunnheim has mages, they are weak compared to our own."

The irony of that statement did not pass by Odin. He didn't know what to do with Loki. What Loki had done was dangerous, but it proved his powers. It might be best to allow Loki this small victory in order to aid in the long run. A mage this powerful could prove useful, but only as long as he was loyal to Asgard. Odin could not allow Loki to learn about his heritage. He could not risk his power defecting to the Jötunn.

He had an irritated look, and Loki had a feeling he had scored a point.

"Freyja, I wish to speak to you," Odin addressed Loki's temporary companion. "Loki, return to your room. I will deal with you in a moment."

"Yes father," Loki replied with a bow.

He didn't like kneeling. Smiling to himself, he left the throne room.

Odin waited until Loki's magic had faded until speaking. "Do you know what the Tesseract did to him?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Freyja admitted, "but he seems mentally stable. I think more than anything the Tesseract simply expanded Loki's horizon of power."

"Won't his power continue to grow? He is still just a child."

"A child who can use the power of the Infinity Jems," Freyja sighed. "Yes though, I think he will get even stronger."

Odin didn't have a response for that. Even stronger… Perhaps I should have left him on Jötunnheim. Because I brought Loki here, he has gained such power.

Asgard had enemies outside of the Nine Realms, enemies that might find Loki's new capabilities intriguing. Odin remembered how Chthon had materialized and fought with Loki over the Tesseract. Loki did not remember the Chitauri though, he had made sure of that. The only thing to do was to try and keep tighter control over the son of Laufey, and ensure that he never gained the throne.

"One more thing," Freyja added dryly.

Odin opened his eye to look at her. She flicked a hand and cast an anti-sound sphere around them so no one could hear what she was about to say. It was a high level charm that blurred their image so their lips couldn't be read. Instantly, Odin was wary.

"When were you planning on telling me that Loki is Jötunn?" Freyja asked sharply.

Odin almost dropped Gungnir at her statement, leaving no doubt in Freyja's mind that she was correct. He affirmed his grip on the spear, and then looked up at her. His reaction had given him away, and he knew it.

"It was not important," Odin dismissed. "How did you learn of this?"

"He opened a rift to Jötunnheim," Freyja reminded him. "Jötunnheim's magic gave him quite a dose. It is a little hard to mistaken blue skin and red eyes for anything but Jötunn blood."

Odin sighed deeply. It seemed he would to reinforce his imprint on Loki to re-suppress his Jötunn heritage. The events of late with Nira and the Tesseract, and Loki dabbling in his magic, had badly damaged the imprint. He supposed it was fortunate it slipped in the woods with only Freyja near. Fixing that was next on his daily agenda.

"I suppose," Freyja mused as she crossed her arms. "That you were also planning on telling me that Loki is Laufey's son?"

Again, Freyja had caught Odin off guard. "How do you know _that_?"

Freyja smiled and rolled her eyes with a light shake of her head. "I said that the dose from Jötunnheim made Loki's eyes turn red. I fought against the Jötunns in the Ice War back in 965 AD. I know that unique color of his iris anywhere. Only the Jötunn royals have eyes of that shade, which is why the color is called royal red."

Odin looked even more frustrated now.

"You didn't even change his name," Freyja mused. "Loki is the name Laufey gave him. I suppose it is safe to presume that the Casket of Ancient Winters was not the only thing you brought back from Jötunnheim the day the Ice War ended. Why did you take him from his father?"

"Laufey had abandoned Loki to die in the ruins of a temple, likely because of his small size," Odin related. "I took him, hoping to rekindle the alliance and peace that once existed between our two races before Laufey took Jötunnheim's throne."

Freyja chuckled softly. "It is a long time since I have heard anyone mention that Asgard and Jötunnheim used to be as close of allies as the Dark Elves and the Fire Dæmons were. There is too much bad blood between the races from the Ice War for such an alliance to ever exist again."

"In our generation yes," Odin agreed. The bones around his missing eye ached – the eye that Laufey had gouged out. There was far too much bad blood. "But not in the generation of Loki and Thor. Raising Laufey's son alongside my own might yet bring peace."

Frigga wanted to laugh at Odin's fake sentiment. She knew already what Odin's real plans for Loki were. If Odin meant to use Loki as the link between the races to "bring peace" then he would not be raising Loki with the prejudice that Jötunns were monsters.

Odin intended to use Loki not as an envoy of peace, but of death – Laufey's and the Jötunn's unless she was horridly mistaken. He never had forgiven them for tearing out his right eye. By raising Loki as he was, he was raising the boy to snap. One Loki learned he was Jötunn – a mindless brutish race that parents scared their children to get them to behave – then he would snap.

Loki would try to prove Odin wrong, and try to prove that he was still Odin's son. The Jötunns would pay the price for it. Genocide is a dangerous game Allfather, Freyja thought darkly. Just as raising a son to murder his father and his people just because you want the Jötunns dead, but don't want to stain your own hands and reputation by doing so. So instead, you will let that stain Loki.

Freyja knew all of this in a heartbeat. The blood hungry shadows in Odin's eye and aura were all the conformation she needed of Odin's treason. Odin was raising Loki to become a monster.

She also knew that Loki had not been abandoned and left to die despite what Odin claimed. Freyja knew that the queen of Jötunnheim and Laufey's bondmate had been Fárbauti, a Jötunn runt no bigger than an Æsir. How could Laufey abandon his son for being small, when he had loved his wife despite the same condition? He couldn't. More likely was that Laufey had hid Loki in a temple away from the fighting in an attempt to keep him safe, and Odin had stumbled across them and quickly taken advantage of the opportunity the Norns had presented him with.

There was nothing she could say or do though. Any move against Odin, especially one that might reveal his true plans, would result in charges of treason. She would bid her time, and wait to see what she could do to ruin Odin's plan. Luckily for her, she had never really like Odin.

"Peace," Freyja smiled. "I find that an unlikely outcome. Anything can happen though, hmm?"

There was something about the way Freyja glanced at him that rattled Odin. Did she know that he was planning to use Loki to get his revenge on Laufey? How could she? No, magic sharpened a mage's mind and Freyja's magic had sharpened hers significantly. Anything was possible. Mages were always too smart for their own good, and that was one reason why he didn't want Loki anywhere near magic.

"Indeed," Odin agreed.

"Might I ask who else knows of Loki's parentage?" Freyja inquired politely.

"Heimdall, Frigga, and Eir," Odin relayed. "Fey learned of it yourself as you did, and she has been informed."

Of that group, Freyja trusted Fey. She wondered a bit about Frigga, but found it unlikely that she knew of Odin's true plans. There was always the chance that Freyja's instincts were wrong on this entire matter, but she just couldn't bring herself to believe that possibility.

"I see," Freyja said and flicked her hand again.

The sound-cancelling bubble dissipated.

"Well," Freyja said. "I believe I shall return to the forest and scout around. There is no harm in double-checking that Asgard is safe from any _threat_."

Freyja's tone on the word 'threat' quickened Odin's suspicion. He would have to be careful to keep an eye on the leader of Asgard's mages. With a short half-curtsy, Freyja transformed back into a peregrine falcon and flew down the hallways to an open window where she promptly soared outside.

Odin watched her take her leave, and then started his walk to Loki's quarters. He needed to have a serious talk with Loki about using his ice magic, and then he needed to suppress his Jötunn powers once more.

* * *

**Sorry for the timeskip in my updating schedule. College is giving me a headache and i really hate having to take my finals that are coming up. **_***Bangs head against the desk in an attempt to giver herself a concussion so she can be excused from taking the finals.***_

**Story: Yep. Here's Odin's true colors. He never forgave Laufey for half-blinding him and he's letting his lust for revenge cloud his judgment. I'm sure some of you can relate to him directly, or relate it to something else you've read. As for Freyja, she knows Odin quite well and it was easy for her to put the pieces together about Loki once she realized there was a puzzle to solve. Remember, up until now she thought that Loki was Asgardian and that there was no mystery to solve. **

**Yes Odin is a jerk in my stories. You should be aware of that by now. Keep reading, it's going to better - and by better i'm sure you know that i mean it's going to get far worse where Odin's involved. **


	19. An Impossible Possibility

Thor cringed as Sigyn's soothing healing magic reknit the skin on his knuckles. Healing magic didn't hurt, but Thor didn't like the fact that fixing his hand meant his entire arm went numb.

"If you didn't want to be healed, you shouldn't have jumped the guards," Sigyn chastised as she lowered her hand from Thor's.

After Loki had teleported away with Slítas, the two guards near Sigyn had found themselves under Thor's attack. Thor had thought that he was helping his brother. It had actually drawn Heimdall's attention for a bit, so Thor had declared that the blood knuckles were worth it.

"And if you are going to start a brawl with the guards then take care not to pick the ones in armor," Sigyn added. "Swinging at them will hurt your hand again."

Thor purposely didn't answer and instead looked down at his newly-healed hand, flexing his fingers.

The two of them were in the hallway near where the ambush had taken place. There was no longer any ice on the walls, and the scuffle had not colored the floor red as some brawls tended to do. With a confident, relaxed smile Sigyn checked Thor's arm. There were no breaks in the bone.

Thor glanced up from her suddenly and grinned. "Brother!"

Sigyn felt her heartbeat double and she froze. Feeling color begin to creep up her cheeks, she slowly turned. There was Loki. Something about his magic felt different to but she couldn't identify what the difference was.

"What happened to your magic?" Thor asked, "It feels a lot colder."

"Thor, exactly how do you feel my magic?" Loki asked, "You're no mage."

"Huh? Well, I just sort of feel it on my fingers. They're cold, but it's not because I'm cold. They always get cold when I'm around you. I think it's because of your ice magic." Thor glanced at the two mages when he realized they were watching him intently. "Being able to feel magic's normal, right?"

"Mage blood," Loki murmured.

"I'm no mage," Thor promised.

"No," Loki agreed, "you can't use magic but you are sensitive to it. You can feel it though your sense of touch. Sensitivity is not very common. How long have you been able to do that?"

"A long time," Thor offered. "I've always been able to feel your magic brother."

"Either you were born with the ability to sense magic or you developed it because I'm a mage and you were exposed to my magic." Loki thought about it. "It makes sense, mother's a mage. I inherited her skills with magic, but you didn't. You can sense it though. That could be useful. I better tell mother."

"Don't," Thor warned quickly, waving his hands at Loki.

"Why not?" Loki frowned at Thor's exaggerated motion.

"She'll schedule me for more lessons," Thor whined and dropped his hands to his sides.

Sigyn felt herself smiling. "My prince, if you are a sensitive then you should learn to develop and hone your talents. Being able to sense magic, whether from a friend or foe, will be an asset."

"I have to learn first," Thor grumbled. Eager to change the subject, his sapphire eyes flashed to Loki. "Where's Slítas?"

Loki looked down to the floor.

Oh no, Sigyn thought, did Odin catch up to him?

"I sent him home," Loki said after a few seconds pause. "He'll be fine back on Jötunnheim."

"You managed to open a tear to Jötunnheim?" Sigyn whispered.

That was amazing. The power needed to do that was so much and he did it by himself? Loki truly was a once-in-a-generation gifted.

"The tear's closed now, I think father's going to drop the subject." Loki hoped so at least. He felt sad about leaving Slítas, but Loki knew that he would be safe.

Thor nodded, pleased. Sigyn smiled slightly, but kept quiet. She didn't want to say anything to accidently spoil Loki's fine mood.

"By the way Thor," Loki glanced at his brother mischievously. "Did you write the essay?"

Thor's features turned blank. "What essay?"

"I knew you were going to say that," Loki rolled his eyes and clapped a hand to his forehead. "The one for Hárekr? The one that's due tomorrow?"

For an instant the confusion remained, but then Thor looked up with horror when he remembered.

"Brother?" He asked in his most pleasing tone of voice.

"I won't write it for you," Loki replied.

"I didn't ask anything!"

Loki gave him a measured look of amusement. "You don't have to brother, you don't have to."

* * *

Commander Vir of the Star Guard nursed a mug of ale as he sat alone in his office. His memories flashed back to Loki's icy attack. The ice had spread across the walls and floor as if it were alive, and Loki had not needed to speak any command words as he would normally have to in a spell. It had responded to his thoughts explicitly, as if… as if… like how it had… for the…

Vir couldn't finish the thought. He took a long gulp form his mug and set it down rather hard on his desk. How could the prince of Asgard be using Jötunn magic?

Someone rapped their knuckles on the door to Vir's office, and Vir sighed. He had a headache and was not in the mood to see anyone.

"I'm busy," Vir called out to the door and laid his forehead on the desk.

"For sure you are," Vir's guest challenged through the door. "Are you actually doing your work for once? I find that to be a miracle in itself."

"Tyr?" Vir whispered. "Oh, come in I guess."

Vir's older brother opened the door and stepped inside. Tyr served as the overall general of Asgard's military forces and was also Odin's second-in-command. Whenever Odin slipped into his annual Odinsleep, it was Tyr who ruled Asgard for the few days Odin slept.

He wasn't surprised to see that his brother's desk better resembled a disaster zone with papers, scrolls, pens, quills, message crystals, and every other thing scattered throughout its surface. Tyr's own desk was also full, but it was neatly organized stacks and he knew where everything was. How Vir managed to find anything in his mess was beyond him.

A small space had been cleared off and Vir was now resting his head on that spot beside a mug of ale.

"Ah, you're very busy I see," Tyr teased.

"I have a headache," Vir said without lifting his head.

"What over this time?" Tyr asked as he closed Vir's door and walked over.

"Loki," Vir grumbled.

Tyr sat himself down in the chair across from Vir's desk. "Oh? What has that boy done now?"

Vir reluctantly lifted his head. He set his right elbow on his desk, and rested his head in his hand as if he wasn't strong enough to hold it up without the support. His blue eyes were tired and confused.

"You haven't heard how he opened a rift to Jötunnheim just to save his snake?" Vir asked in surprise.

"No," Tyr tssked. "I know about that. That boy is dangerous. Not only does he have the instability from the Tesseract to deal with, but now he's opening up a gate to _Jötunnheim_?"

"You're glad that Thor's the older brother," Vir remarked idly, reading Tyr with ease. "You don't trust Loki, and don't want him on the throne. Is it just because he's a mage?"

Tyr wasn't surprised that Vir had managed to read him. Vir could read just about anyone.

"It's because of the Tesseract," Tyr repeated. "Loki is also no warrior, but just another cowardly mage. He fights from the shadows, and cause strife for fun. I do not want someone like that as Allfather. You do?"

Vir shrugged, the movement made odd because his head was still in his hand. "I'll reserve my judgement for Loki's worth until I actually see him rule. You shouldn't judge him before he even has a chance to show his colors. Though…"

"Though?" Tyr repeated curiously.

Vir remembered how the temperature had dropped and ice had begun to spread. Loki had not simply been slowing the vibration of atoms to create ice. He had been drawing on the essence of winter and animating it. Only a Jötunn was supposed to be able to do that.

"You know how he got past me, right?" Vir asked.

He decided to trust his brother with what he had seen.

"Ice magic," Tyr shook his head in disapproval.

Like Vir, Tyr had also served in the Ice War against the Jötunns. Of all the dozens of branches of magic, why did his prince have to have an affinity for that?

"It wasn't ice magic," Vir shook his head.

Tyr gave him a blank look, and Vir exemplified reluctantly.

"Loki was animating the essence of winter," Vir admitted. "He wasn't using ice magic, but winter itself."

Tyr sat straight. "Animating… But only a Jötunn has a strong enough connection with winter to do that."

Tyr realized what he said at Vir's dark look.

"Now you see why I have a headache," Vir sighed and rubbed a temple. "Ice magic and Jötunn magic might look the same, but they are in reality two very different type of magic. Only a Jötunn can use Jötunn magic."

"Yet Loki used it," Tyr whispered thoughtfully.

Vir didn't say anything, but idly tapped his fingers against the mug. After a few seconds, Vir broke the subdued silence that had settled between the brothers and sat straight up.

"Well, I suppose there's nothing to worry about." Vir picked up the mug and took another sip, draining it.

"Nothing to worry about?" Tyr demanded. "How do you get that conclusion?"

"Because I'm obviously wrong," Vir assured Tyr. "Saying it aloud to you makes me realize how ludicrous it is. I must have misinterpreted Loki's magic. That's all that happened. Likely I saw the ice magic and instantly thought back to the Ice War. My sense were skewed by my experience."

"Are you sure?" Tyr asked doubtfully.

"Do you have a better explanation?" Vir queried and set the empty mug down. "Like say, oh I don't know, that Odin's younger son is actually a Jötunn? You actually believe that?"

Tyr hesitated and leaned back in the chair. His brother was not wrong. Vir had had some bad experiences against the Jötunns in the Ice War. It was a perfectly logical conclusion that Vir had seen the ice magic and instantly thought back to the fear there, accidently projecting Jötunn magic onto Loki's spell. The idea that Loki was Jötunn was therefore based on false evidence, and a stupid idea besides.

Tyr looked away. "I suppose not."

Still, the idea would explain some of the odd qualities surrounding Loki. Yet, how could Tyr ever prove it? Walk up to Odin and ask him: _Allfather, I'm just curious, but is your younger son by some chance a Jötunn that you stole during the Ice War and are merely raising as your son? _Right, because that would end well.  
When Tyr glanced back at his brother, he saw that Vir was idly twirling a pen between his fingers. Clearly, Vir had already dismissed the impossible possibility as a skewed and obviously incorrect assumption. Vir had a knack of being able to look at a person or situation and see right to the heart of the situation, no matter what lies shielded that truth. If Vir didn't think it possible then it couldn't be, could it?

Tyr was not quite as trusting as his brother, and now that the possibility had been raised he couldn't brush it away. Loki being Jötunn would explain many of the inconsistencies and oddities that surrounded the child. For instance, Frigga had not announced her pregnancy until after the end of the war and the birth of a new prince.

Loki's pet snake was also from Jötunnheim, and yet it had slept in Loki's jacket. Would a creature native to Jötunnheim be so docile with an Asgardian unless Loki wasn't…?

Tyr left his brother's office after a few more minutes of idle chitchat. Vir might have dismissed the possibility after hearing aloud how stupid the idea was, but Tyr couldn't quite do that. Something about the idea of Loki being Jötunn just made so much _sense_.

It was impossible though, wasn't it? Loki couldn't be Jötunn, could he?

* * *

**Oh great, now it looks like Odin's going to have to explain himself again. Honestly, if this pace continues then Loki's heritage won't stay a secret.**

**Just curious, but in all of the chaos going on, did any of you remember about the essay assigned in chapter 5?**


	20. Strange Relations

Loki was sitting on his bed in his room with a book in his lap. It was just his school history book, but Loki found history very interesting to read. His bed was pushed up against the right wall, and Loki normally slept facing the wall. Now he was just leaning against the wall.

He was not surprised when his door opened or when Odin entered. Loki ran his fingers across the page idly.

"Father," he greeted without looking up. "You don't have to shout at me. I already know I'm in trouble for disobeying you and opening up my portal gate. I am sorry."

Odin tightened his grip on Gungnir at Loki's submissive tone, amazed that Loki was now acting like he should. "You have quite the nerve child. Your foolish actions have endangered all of Asgard, and for what, a simple snake?"

"Slítas is a friend," Loki corrected. "He may be non-humanoid, but he is also a sentient being. Do you dislike him purely because his home is Jötunnheim?"

"_You_ presume to try and lecture _me_, boy?" Odin demanded, recoiling at Loki's comment. "You are the one who needs to be reminded of your place! You opened a portal to _Jötunnheim_! Do you have the faintest idea what your actions could have unleashed?"

Loki tightened his grip on the book, and lowered his head.

"But they didn't," Loki whispered so quietly Odin almost didn't hear him.

The tip of Gungnir slammed into the ground, and Loki flinched before setting his shoulders. Odin was surprised to see that his emerald-black eyes still sparkled with Tesseract blue. He would have thought that the more prominent effects of the Tesseract would have faded by now, ad was troubled that it had not. Suppressing Loki's magic had suddenly become more urgent, and Odin knew a good way to keep his magic suppressed was to break Loki of his rebellious attitude.

"If only you were more like your brother," Odin exhaled, breath hissing between his teeth. "It is fortunate Thor is the older child for you are not worthy of the title Allfather. You and your foolish magic…"

Loki didn't flinch back from Odin as Odin thought he would and instead sat up straight.

"My magic is different for certain, but magic is not an evil thing," Loki explained. "It can be used for evil, but it is not inherently good or bad. It simply is. Even the Tesseract, a magic we mortals cannot understand, follows the simple reality of magic."

"The reality of magic?" Odin stepped back, surprised that Loki understood such a thing at such a young age.

No doubt the Tesseract was the reason behind Loki's new foresight. Odin watched as the blue sparkles in Loki's eyes that glittered like pieces of broken glass brightened. It looked like they were reflecting sunlight. The Tesseract was feeding his courage.

Loki closed his book calmly, and raised his head to where Odin simmered. "Magic is only evil when someone makes it such, and only good for the same reason. Its fate changes depending on the people. My fate isn't set either. You can tell me that just because I'm not like Thor I'm worthless, but that does not mean you're right. You're not a mage, so you don't know me. Stop pretending you do Odin, and stop discriminating against me just because I'm a mage. Grow up!"

The last time Loki had confronted Odin he had said one half-hissed comment, but otherwise stayed quiet and simply held Odin's glare. This time was very different. Now he was openly challenging Odin, and Odin was not in the mood to hear it from the son of Laufey.

Odin stepped forward with a raised his hand. He tried to slap Loki, but his hand hit Loki's cheek and went right through it. His eyes widened as the illusion of Loki dissolved into green sparkles. An illusion! When had Loki learned to cast such a convincing illusion of himself?

Odin was left staring at an empty bed. Even the book had been an illusion.

"Odd," Loki said softly. "I knew you were going to hit me. You always do that when I speak my mind."

Odin whirled around and looked from side to side to try and find Loki. It was no good. He had cloaked himself under an invisibility weave, and was using a charm to echo his voice around the room so Odin couldn't use it to find his location. Fine, Odin would just strip the magic from here.

Gungnir glowed as Odin started to activate it, but Loki suddenly called out. "That won't work father."

Odin froze. What? No way. Freyja had warned him that the Tesseract had expanded Loki horizon of power, but it couldn't have grown that quickly. Loki couldn't have evolved to the point where Gungnir was too weak to affect him.

"I'm a prince of Asgard and your son father," Loki reminded. "Gungnir won't hurt me."

No, Odin allowed himself to relax. Loki wasn't that strong. He had simply found a loophole. That child was far too skilled at finding ways to sidestep rules.

"Why do you want to fight me father?" Loki asked quietly. "Do you really want me to follow Thor so much? I can't hold a sword right, and I'm too weak to fight with armor and shield as a warrior should. I'm sorry that I'm such a disappointment to you and to Asgard, but I can't help it."

Loki put a hand to his mouth to choke down a sob, and closed his eyes. A crystal tears traced a path down his cheek and fell onto his sleeve. He had his arms crossed tightly over his chest, and clenched his sleeves.

Odin knew that while he could not easily turn Gungnir against Loki with malicious intent he could still use it to end Loki's spells. Loki glanced up suddenly as Gungnir glowed and a shockwave ripped through the room. He raised his hands as Gungnir shattered the invisibility weave he had drawn over himself.

The kinetic force knocked him back, and Loki ungracefully fell off his desk where he had been sitting and landed flat on his back. His breath was knocked out of him, and he lay there for a few seconds trying to breathe. If he could just snap out of it then he could get back to his feet.

Odin did not give Loki that chance, and he stalked over to where Loki lay coughing. He knelt by Loki's side and before Loki could move he cast a sleeping spell on the boy. Loki flinched and tried to push to his feet, but the spell took hold too quickly and he fell limp to the ground.

Odin exhaled in relief when Loki fell asleep. Loki's stubborn will was dangerous, and so was his stunning reserve of magic. He picked Loki up by the front of his collar and dropped him onto his bed.

"I should have left you on Jötunnheim," Odin snarled quietly.

With a shake of his head at how much trouble Laufey's son was starting to become, Odin raised Gungnir over Loki and reaffirmed the sleep spell. In order to keep him in his Asgardian appearance and suppress his Jötunn powers, Odin had systematically "imprinted" fragments of his Odinforce onto Loki's soul. Doing so had also had the side effect of making his magic echo like Odin's, and it had fooled Gungnir and Asgard's barriers into thinking Loki was a real prince. This had turned out to be key in making the mages of Asgard and Asgard itself into accepting him.

Now Odin reinforced the imprint. There were many layers of it, built over the four centuries that Loki had been alive and on Asgard. He was stunned to see that many of the imprint layers were fractured like a damaged mirror. The fractures were not uniform and each layer had a different pattern of fractures.

If all the fractures had been the same then the imprint would have shattered long ago. Because they were different the pressure on the imprint had been spread out, and so it had remained intact. Odin narrowed his one remaining eye when he saw that frost seemed to be spreading along the edge of the cracks like blood oozing from a wound, and the Tesseract's blue energy sparkled within the frost.

It was as Odin had feared. The fractures in his imprint had begun by Loki's use of the infinite power of the Tesseract. His Jötunn magic, caged for so long, was clawing its way free and Loki's high-strung attitude had only encouraged it. Odin didn't think it would be so simple to keep Loki's personality under control, but he could recreate the imprint. As long as he was not exposed to another Infinity Stone, it should hold.

Odin worked for about an hour to burn away the traces of Jötunn power that had leaked past the imprint. It was difficult for him to purge the Jötunn magic from the imprint because Loki would not stop thrashing. His breathing was ragged and sweat slicked his clothes. He let out a few little mews of pain coughed up blood.

He pinned him down with magic ties to hold him place as he worked. Eliminating the Jötunn magic within Loki would kill him, so Odin had merely suppressed the power in the boy's emerald-black soul. His work left scratches on Loki's soul, and that was what was causing Loki so much pain. If he didn't do this though then Loki's heritage might become known, so he did so.

When Odin was finally finished he released the bindings and left Loki on his bed. He had a headache from the effort of dealing with the Tesseract's influence. No sooner had he taken a step away from Loki's bed however then did a wave of dizziness wash over him. Odin knew that feeling, but he shook it off with some trouble and stalked out of Loki's room. The sensation faded, just as Odin knew it would. Chthon would not try to speak to him in the public where he could be detected, but Odin knew that tonight there would be an argument.

Odin had a few questions he needed to ask, so he looked forward to it. Right now though, he had duties as Allfather and the fallout from Loki's tear to Jötunnheim to deal with. It would be a busy day.

Chthon chuckled to himself as Odin left, more bemused then anything by Odin's refusal. His attention was on the son of Laufey that was sprawled out on his bed, deeply asleep. The nightmares Chthon had been giving him had, bit by bit, worn away the Tesseract's touch in Loki's soul. Odin had just taken care of the rest of it, leaving only an ambient echo. Considering how the Tesseract was, Chthon doubted it would ever truly fade. As long as Loki was kept away from the Tesseract in the future there should be no trouble.

The fact that a mortal like him had managed to use the Tesseract intrigued Chthon, and he knew that Thanos was interested in him. Thanos thought that Loki was simply a valuable general, and Chthon agreed with him on that note. He obviously had the potential to be quite an asset, but if he was not groomed correctly he could end up causing the Chituari more grief then Fárbauti had.

"The battlefield is the best way to become stronger, if you don't die," Chthon quoted Thanos in amusement.

Loki would soon become stronger for the war Asgard would be plunged into, and Chthon, also known as "The Other", knew that was the first step in grooming Loki for his place as a general of the Chitauri. After all, what good was a general if they didn't know how to kill?

**...**

**As you know, the Chitauri do eventually get Loki as their general (the Battle of New York). No, I am not going to explain the connection between Odin and Chthon. That would spoil the surprise. **

**On a more cheerful note, yeah Loki! He's not strong enough to threaten Odin, but he is brave enough. The shy cowardly Loki from "A Different Kind of Courage" won't be showing up again. This is the Loki we know from the movies.**

**I think I should remind you that Loki is the equivalent of a human ten-year old, Thor is eleven, and Nira 12/13. They're just kids. Kinda scary really, especially if you look at Nira.**


	21. A New War

Slítas felt comfortable in the snow, and he could feel himself relaxing the longer he spent on his homeworld of Jötunnheim. Although it was much colder then -100F, the cold did not bother him. He made himself warm-blooded to deal with the chill and slithered through the dirty, ash gray snow.

Loki had set him down remarkably close to the Jötunn's capital city of Útgarðr, so Slítas did not have far to slither to reach shelter. Although his scales were black, the twilight dark light and gray color of the snow camouflaged his presence. With this he was able to move through the city unseen by its crestfallen inhabitants.

The palace was not well guarded and Slítas was not surprised by that either. He remembered Jötunnheim as being one of the more peaceful realms, and so did not believe that there was a need for tight security. It was easy for the small serpent to gain entry to Laufey's palace.

Once he entered the palace though he found himself a little confused, for all the hallways looked the same. Compared to the deafening sound of life on Asgard, Slítas found the silence of Útgarðr disturbing. He clicked quietly as he tried to figure out which way to go and that quiet click echoed as loud as an avalanche, making the snake puff up his hood defensively.

He retracted his hood slowly and reached out for something familiar with his unique brand of magic. Many animals had magic. Cats had the ability to see through glamours and illusions with their eyes. Prey creatures could often use a limited version of senselines to detect when they were being hunted. Slítas used his magic, and managed to sense something he recognized.

It almost felt like his Jötunn friend back on Asgard, and Slítas assumed that he had found some of his Jötunn family. Hopefully they would be as nice as Loki. Without clicking again, Slítas lowered his head to the ice and traced the magic to its source.

Within the throne room of the palace, Laufey was lounging on his throne. He wasn't often on his throne. Normally he preferred to be on ground level instead of high above his own people as if he were a god compared to them. The only times he was on his throne was for an important event or if he wanted to be left alone.

This time it was the second one.

Laufey had received news from Heimdall of the Tesseract and its disappearance, along with orders from the great Odin to return it if they found it. If they didn't, Asgard would read it as treason and start a war. Asgard was always looking for an excuse to start a war.

When Asgard's younger prince had thrown it into the Void to protect it from Nira, it had vanished with a flash of power and so it was now up for grabs. Despite Heimdall's warning, he was still curious about what would happen if we found Jötunnheim found it. With that much power at his disposal then who knew what would happen.

No, if Laufey found it then Asgard would keep their treat and tear it from Laufey, staining the snow as they threatened. Asgard called Jötunnheim monsters, and yet they were the ones who made the snow run red with blood as thick as a river. Unlike Jötunnheim, Asgard was not very specific about killing only warriors.

Laufey was troubled by this situation. Even if Jötunnheim found it, even with the power of an Infinity Stone, they would still be in another war. Yet to give up such power… With the Tesseract, Laufey might be able to duplicate the Casket's effect and use it to sustain the lifeforce of his planet. What would he do if he managed to gain the Tesseract? What was the best thing for his shattered planet and broken people?

Slítas slithered into the throne room and raised his head off of the floor and up to the Jötunn on the throne. This was the kin to his friend that he had sensed. He clicked hello, and the noise echoed off the walls as loud as a gunshot.

Laufey jumped, and almost fell off of his throne from surprise. He materialized a blade of ice around his fingers as he scrambled to his feet and searched for the source of the sound. A patch of the shadows moved and a small black ribbon materialized, and slithered over the base of the throne. It looked up at him curiously, and clicked hello again.

Laufey watched the snake with blank eyes. Was that a snake on _Jötunnheim_? The snake seemed to be expecting him to come down. Unsure, Laufey cautiously walked down the steps to ground level.

With another click Slítas raised his head and nuzzled Laufey's hand. This Jötunn's soul was similar to Loki's, and so Slítas suspected his first guess was correct. The two of them must be family. Judging by the age difference between Loki and this Jötunn, this was likely Loki's father.

There were footsteps down the hallway as someone approached, and the steps resolved themselves into General Mimir Fanzelson, an old friend of Laufey's and his second in command. Mimir looked surprised when he saw Laufey was no longer on his throne, and relieved. If Laufey was willing to come down from his throne then that meant he had managed to organize his thoughts and was willing to interact with his people again. What was his verdict on the Tesseract?

Mimir decided to tease Laufey a little before he got to the point, and so he called out as he entered. "Ah, you are finally going to come down from your throne and speak to us mortals?"

Laufey sighed at Mimir's barb. It was expected, and after the startling announcement about the Tesseract he realized he was glad that something at least was still the same. As Laufey made a move to stand, the black snake looped itself around his arm so when Laufey stood it was on him.

Mimir's next jibe fizzled out when he saw the snake wrapped around his arm. "Where did you…?"

Laufey shrugged helplessly as he faced Mimir, and the serpent bobbed its head in greeting at Mimir. "It just showed up. I think it likes me."

"Obviously," Mimir muttered in amusement at just how obvious the comment was.

He held out a hand to the cobra, but it puffed its hood at him defensively. It opened its mouth to expose his teeth. Mimir quickly jerked his hand back before he got bit. Curious, he took a closer look at the snake. The crystals by its eyes that turned an irritated pink color when it flexed its hood and at the intelligence in its emerald cat eyes.

"Laufey," Mimir whispered in awe when he suddenly realized what type of snake it was. "Do you know what this is? It's a Deus Praesidio!"

Laufey gave his friend a blank look, and slowly lowered his eye to the snake draped around his arm. "Deus Praesidio? Aren't they a myth?"

"They are rare enough that they might as well be," Mimir shook his head. "I believe Asgardians call their species Whipsnapper Cobras. According to our legends, they served as Ymir's guardians. Their name translates roughly to _God's Protector_."

"This little thing was a guardian to the god Ymir?" Laufey whistled. "It's little, but it must pack a punch."

"According to the stories, they're strong enough to fight Elder Gods. I don't know if they could actually beat an Elder God, but they could stall them long enough for Ymir to come and kill them. Having one on your side is very good," Mimir smiled.

"It's tame," Laufey mused at how comfortable the snake was to him. "I wonder what happened to its old master."

Slítas tilted its head up at Laufey and hissed at him. He was not Loki's pet, just a friend.

Mimir chuckled as he looked at the cobra, "I don't think it liked your comment. If I were to guess, I'd say he simply became attached to someone who isn't here anymore."

"Why would it become attached to me?" Laufey asked.

Mimir shrugged. "Maybe you're magic is similar to its last ah, friend."

Slítas bobbed his head yes, but he wasn't sure how much he was understood. Honestly, some of these Realmers were so dense. They knew what he was at least. Loki thought he was just a normal snake.

"What about the Tesseract?" Mimir asked without looking away from the snake. "Have you made a decision about what we would do if we found it?"

Laufey knew that he would have to make a decision before he actually found the Tesseract. If they did find the Tesseract then Asgard would move fast, so Laufey had to already have a plan in place beforehand. He wouldn't have time to think once he had the Tesseract. Would Laufey keep the Tesseract and risk another war in exchange for its power that could be used to stimulate Jötunnheim's lifeforce, or turn it over without complaint to avoid bloodshed?

"I haven't made a decision yet," Laufey admitted. "This Deus Praesidio interrupted me when he appeared."

Slítas let the Jötunn kin his master Ymir had created talk back and forth about the Tesseract. He was thinking about his friend he had been forced to leave behind, but he wasn't worried about Loki. Being a guardian of Ymir, Slítas had many unique abilities he could use in order to protect him.

One of those things came to life now, and Slítas knew without a doubt he would be seeing Loki again very soon. He knew before it happened that Jötunnheim would soon invade Asgard and start a war. In the chaos of war, it would be simple for him to slip back to Loki. The fighting would start within a matter of days, and Slítas was content to stay with Loki's father until the war began.

**THE END**

* * *

_To Be Continued In…_

The Prince of Mischief, Lies, and Blood:

_The Loki you know and love is beginning to appear as the prince learns. It is one month after _Nightmares_ and Loki is earning his title as Godling of Mischief. Mischief on Asgard though translates to open war on Jötunnheim where Laufey fights for control against a band of outlaws. Loki's going to need all of his new skills when the Jötunn's war comes to Asgard._

* * *

**This is a shorter chapter, but it sets the next story up quite well. As said, there is going to be another war between Asgard and Jotunnheim, and it's about to start.**


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